Product Description
Benin King Oba bronze standing figure, African, Nigeria, 20th Century
Benin King Oba bronze standing figure, Nigeria, 20th Century
Lost wax cast bronze with a verdigris patina and a desert sand surface highlighting a rich brown patina.
H: 15″ x D: 4 1/2″ x W: 4 1/2″
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.
Benin King Oba bronze standing figure, African, Nigeria, 20th Century
Ceremonial Parrot Effigy Metate 4th–8th century
Guanacaste-Nicoya Costa Rica
Volcanic stone carved with Greek key type designs, openwork feather details and finely detailed bird’s head and beak.
A related Ceremonial Metate can be found in the Rockefeller collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
H: 14″ x D: 12 1/2″ x L: 30 1/2″
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.