A Benin Royal Ancestor Shrine like the one shown here is not one art object, but a display involving a lot of specific art objects as well as ritual.
Useful resources on Benin and its art:
This page at the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology is exceptionally good -- make sure to read this one!
The Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford) also has a good article about the Court Art of Benin
And the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (Metropolitan Museum of Art) has a lot of useful stuff:
Useful resources on Benin and its art:
This page at the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology is exceptionally good -- make sure to read this one!
The Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford) also has a good article about the Court Art of Benin
And the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (Metropolitan Museum of Art) has a lot of useful stuff:
- an overview of Benin & other nations in the region.
- an article on lost-wax casting (the casting technique used for Benin metalwork)
- an article on the history of Benin
- an article on Idia, the first Queen-Mother of Benin
