London, 21 December 2010
On 17 February 2011, Sotheby’s London will be selling an extremely rare ivory mask dating from the sixteenth century. The piece represents the head of the Queen Mother of the Edo people and is from the Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria. Five other precious objects from Benin will also be on offer.
To date, only four other masks of such quality have been discovered and feature in the world’s most prestigious museums. The ivory masks are renowned for their quality, craftsmanship and importance in African art. Made for the Oba or King of Benin, these ivory masks attest to the Golden Age of the Kingdom of Benin.
The mask has been estimated at three to five million. It has been shown to the public only twice: in 1947, during an exhibition at Berkeley Galleries in London entitled “Ancient Benin” and in 1951 at “Traditional Sculpture from the Colonies” at the Arts Gallery of the Imperial Institute in London.
The mask and five other objects from Benin are being sold by the descendants of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Lionel Galway, who was appointed deputy commissioner and vice-consul of the new established Oil Rivers Protectorate in 1891. He remained in Nigeria until 1902.
The collection on sale includes an elephant tusk sculpted for the altar of an eighteenth-century Oba, two ivory bracelets sculpted in the style of the Igbesanmwan artists, the Royal Guild of ivory sculpors, and a remarkable twisted bronze sculpture that served as a tusk stand.