Benin Bronze Head of King Oba, African, Nigeria 20th Century
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Benin Bronze Head of King Oba, African, Nigeria 20th Century
NIGERIA
Benin Head of King Oba, c. early to mid-20th Century
Lost wax cast bronze with a rich brown and black patina with light desert sand patina in some of the recessed areas.
The art of Benin is the product of an urban royal court, and is meant to symbolize and to extol the power, mystique, grandeur, continuity, and endurance of the ruling dynasty and its governing institutions. From the 14th century until its fall in 1897, Benin was ruled by the Oba, a divine ruler at the head of the political system of titled chiefs. Under royal support, a number of craftsman’s guilds produced bronze, brass, and wood sculptures and embroidered cloth, all of which have become prized by museums and collectors.
These heads were typically placed on altars dedicated to each of the past Oba’s of Benin. The altars are semicircular mud platforms that have been packed hard and rubbed smooth and are located in open courtyards of the palace. The royal altars are the settings for one of the two most important rites of divine kingship in Benin, Ugie Erha Oba, when the Oba honors the spirit of his late father and performs sacrifices to the royal ancestors and to the earth in which they are buried. Acknowledging his role as his fathers’ successor, the chiefs pay homage to the king and greet him in order of seniority. The rite expresses the continuity of divine kingship, and the altar before which it takes place provides the means by which the connection between the living king and his predecessors was established and made.
Just Andersen Denmark Art Deco Grand bronze vase c. 1935-40
JUST ANDERSEN (1884-1943) Denmark
Grand vase c. 1935-40
Rich deep brown patinated bronze, neck with three sets of four incised lines, with flaring rim and gilt edge
Marks: DENMARK, JUST (in a triangular cartouche), No. B 2055
For more information see: “Just Andersen: Manden og Vaerket” by Svend Rindholt in Samleren: Tidskrift for Kunst og Kunstindustri (Attende Aargang, 1941) pp. 171-194; Dansk Biografisk Leksikon. Første Bind (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1979) p. 199. The Design Encyclopedia. Mel Byars (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1994) p. 23.
H: 13 1/2″ x Dia: 8″
Designer Just Andersen trained with Peter Hertz and Mogens Ballin, the premier silversmith in Copenhagen. He was also employed as a designer for Georg Jensen before he decided to open his own silver and metal studio in 1918. The elegant, simple forms and richly-patinated surfaces are highly characteristic of Andersen’s high level of design and superlative craftsmanship.
Franz Bergman (attr.) Bronze Bull Pen Wipe c. 1900
Franz Xaver Bergman (1861–1936) (attr.) Vienna, Austria.
Bull pen wipe c. 1900
Cold painted bronze, boar’s hair bristles, horn.
For information see: Art Bronzes, Mich. Forrest (Schiffer, 1988).
H: 5 1/4” x L: 11”
Franz Xaver Bergman (1861–1936) was the owner of a Viennese foundry who produced numerous patinated and cold-painted bronze Oriental, erotic and animal figures, the latter often humanized or whimsical, humorous objects d’art.
A well-known anamalier at the turn-of-the century, the sculptor Franz Bergman created a number of small bronzes in a variety of subject matter. Other figurative works were informed by the Jugendstil/Art Nouveau style and the European taste for the exotic as is found in his figures of rug merchants and camels. His animal sculptures, however, capture the Viennese tradition of naturalistic bronzes. The quality of the bronze casting shows tremendous detail, which was carefully brought out through the applied patination process known as cold painting.
Andre Vincent Becquerel Arabian Horse bronze sculpture c. 1930
ANDRE VINCENT BECQUEREL (1893-1981) France
Arabian Horse sculpture c. 1930
Bronze with overall rich green/brown patina with intricate sculpting and details, black Belgian marble plinth base
Signed: A. Becquerel (inscribed in the bronze)
H: 12” x W: 21” x D: 6”
Price: $27,500
Andre Vincent Becquerel was born in St. Andre-Farivilliers. He studied at the l’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris under Hector Lemaire and Prosper Lecourtier. He specialized in fine animal sculpture and regularly exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Francais from 1914 to 1922. Becquerel worked for the Editeur Parisiens Edmond Etling in Paris and created a monumental sculpture in patinated plaster for the “Pavillon international” at the Exposition Internationale in Paris in 1937.
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