Ceremonial Charm

Description

A brass or gilt ceremonial charm. It is conical in shape with a loop at the narrow end and a mouth at the wide end. The body is decorated with incised interlaced decoration. This object may be part of set of charms that are part of the Dumas-Egerton collection at the Pitt-Rivers (confirmation of this is currently being researched). If this was the case it would confirm that this object would have originally been a decorative ceremonial charm dated to the Edo period (1680-1730). It would have possibly been worn by the Oba (king) of Benin or another member of the Benin Uzama (chiefs). It would also indicate that this object would have been brought to Europe following the looting of artwork from the Kingdom of Benin during the British Punitive Expedition in 1897. Edo designation of this object would be Emwiegbe.