id:			143898
accession number:	1968.284
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1968.284
updated:		2020-06-18 09:01:20.584000

Altar Tusk, c. 1820. Guinea Coast, Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, Edo, 19th century. Elephant ivory; overall: 197.4 cm (77 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katherine C. White 1968.284

title:				Altar Tusk
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			c. 1820
creation date earliest:		1815
creation date latest:		1825
current location:		108A Sub-Saharan
creditline:			Gift of Katherine C. White
copyright:			

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culture:	Guinea Coast, Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, Edo, 19th century
technique:	Elephant ivory
department:	African Art
collection:	African Art
type:		Ivory
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

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measurements: Overall: 197.4 cm (77 11/16 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Year in Review: 1968
	opening date:   1969-01-29T05:00:00
	<i>Year in Review: 1968</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 29-March 9, 1969).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* CMA 1968: "African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection," cat. no. 144, repr.<br>CMA 1969: "Year in Review 1968," CMA Bulletin LVI (Jan., 1969), p. 46, no. 56, repr. p. 43.

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PROVENANCE

	Katherine White Reswick
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact: 


digital description: 


wall description: 
Consisting of a clay platform built against a wall, the altars in the palace of the oba, the divine Benin king, are furnished with different ceremonial objects, including elephant tusks that the new oba commissions from the ivory carvers' guild within three years of his installation. Carved in parallel horizontal rows, the motifs covering the surface of the tusks recall historical and mythological traditions.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	Blackmun, Barbara Winston. 1994. "History and Statecraft on a Tusk from Old Benin". <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. </em>81 (4): 87-115.
	page number: 	
	url:		

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1968.284/1968.284_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1968.284/1968.284_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1968.284/1968.284_full.tif