{
    "data": {
        "id": 143898,
        "accession_number": "1968.284",
        "share_license_status": "CC0",
        "tombstone": "Ancestral Altar Tusk, c. 1820. Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, \u1eb8do peoples, members of the Igbesanmwan (wood and ivory carvers) guild. Elephant ivory; overall: 197.4 cm (77 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katherine C. White, 1968.284",
        "current_location": "108A African",
        "title": "Ancestral Altar Tusk",
        "creation_date": "c. 1820",
        "creation_date_earliest": 1815,
        "creation_date_latest": 1825,
        "artists_tags": [],
        "culture": [
            "Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, \u1eb8do peoples, members of the Igbesanmwan (wood and ivory carvers) guild"
        ],
        "technique": "Elephant ivory",
        "support_materials": [],
        "department": "African Art",
        "collection": "African Art",
        "type": "Sculpture",
        "measurements": "Overall: 197.4 cm (77 11/16 in.)",
        "dimensions": {
            "overall": {
                "height": 1.974,
                "height_inch": 77,
                "height_inch_fraction": 0.6875
            }
        },
        "state_of_the_work": null,
        "edition_of_the_work": null,
        "copyright": null,
        "inscriptions": [],
        "exhibitions": {
            "current": [
                {
                    "id": 301285,
                    "title": "Year in Review for 1968",
                    "description": "<i>Year in Review for 1968</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 29-March 9, 1969).",
                    "opening_date": "1969-01-29T05:00:00"
                }
            ],
            "legacy": [
                {
                    "description": "<em>African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection</em>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 10 \u2013 September 1, 1968)",
                    "opening_date": "1968-09-01T00:00:00"
                }
            ]
        },
        "provenance": [
            {
                "description": "Commissioned by \u1eccba \u1eccs\u1eb9mw\u1eb9d\u1eb9 [r. 1815\u201350] from the Igbesanmwan",
                "citations": [],
                "footnotes": [
                    "<div><!--block-->\u2022 Blackmun, Barbara Winston. 1994. \"History and Statecraft on a Tusk from Old Benin\". The Bulletin&nbsp;<br>of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 81 (4): 87-115. (p. 92-3)&nbsp;<br><br></div>"
                ],
                "date": "1820s",
                "sortorder": 1
            },
            {
                "description": "\u1eccba \u1eccs\u1eb9mw\u1eb9d\u1eb9 [r. 1815\u201350], Royal Palace, Benin City, by descent to Ov\u1ecdnramw\u1eb9n (Ov\u1ecdnramw\u1eb9n Nogbaisi [c. 1857\u20131914, r. 1888\u201397]",
                "citations": [],
                "footnotes": null,
                "date": "after 1850",
                "sortorder": 2
            },
            {
                "description": "Brought to England (or Europe) following the Siege of Benin",
                "citations": [],
                "footnotes": [
                    "<div><!--block-->\u2022 Blackmun, Barbara Winston. 1994. \"History and Statecraft on a Tusk from Old Benin\". The Bulletin&nbsp;<br>of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 81 (4): 87-115. (p. 92)</div>"
                ],
                "date": "1897",
                "sortorder": 3
            },
            {
                "description": "Katherine (Merkel) White Reswick [1929-1980], Gates Mills, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
                "citations": [],
                "footnotes": [
                    "<div><!--block-->Letter dated January 28, 1961 from KWR (then Katherine Merkel) to John Wise referencing and&nbsp;<br>describing the tusk/relating it to a pairing with a CMA work; Dallas Museum of Art John Wise&nbsp;<br>Archives (photocopy in Curatorial File)&nbsp;<br>\u2022 Photographs c. 1950s-mid-1960s from KWM in curatorial file<br>**Katherine W. Merkel, Katherine C. White, and Katherine White Reswick (1929-1980) are the&nbsp;<br>same woman</div>"
                ],
                "date": "by at least 1961\u20131968",
                "sortorder": 5
            },
            {
                "description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
                "citations": [],
                "footnotes": [
                    "<div><!--block-->Acquired at accession meeting January 22, 1969 (see registrar files)&nbsp;<br>\u2022 Exhibited/published 1968 African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection, cat. No.&nbsp;<br>144, reproduced&nbsp;<br>\u2022 Published in \u201cYear in Review 1968\u201d CMA Bulletin LVI (Jan. 1969), Reproduced: p. 43, mentioned p. 46, no. 56.</div>"
                ],
                "date": "1968\u2013",
                "sortorder": 6
            }
        ],
        "find_spot": null,
        "related_works": [],
        "former_accession_numbers": [
            "1033.68"
        ],
        "did_you_know": "Originally, this carved tusk was placed on an ancestral altar as part of an ensemble of objects made to memorialize a deceased \u1eccba (ruler).",
        "early_education_description": null,
        "artlens_description": null,
        "description": "\u1eccba \u1eccs\u1eb9mw\u1eb9d\u1eb9 commissioned the carving of this tusk to connect with his ancestors and symbolize his strength. It is covered with royal figures wearing elaborate regalia and scenes of power, ritual, and violence. While Benin royal symbols may look similar across centuries, their meanings can shift. \u1eccs\u1eb9mw\u1eb9d\u1eb9\u2019s reign was prosperous due to trade with the Dutch; however, 16th-century Portuguese men are carved on the lower tusk. By the 1800s they represented <em>any</em> European traders. This tusk\u2019s surface likely became worn and cracked from frequent washing, bleaching, and the applying of a white clay (<em>orhue</em>) linked to peace, purity, and prosperity.",
        "external_resources": {
            "wikidata": [
                "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60747069"
            ],
            "internet_archive": [
                "https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1968.284-ancestral-altar-tusk"
            ]
        },
        "citations": [
            {
                "citation": "Fricke, Berthold, ed. The Cleveland Museum of Art. Ahrbeck/Hannover: Knorr &amp; Hirth Verlag GmbH, 1975, p. 102.",
                "page_number": "",
                "url": ""
            },
            {
                "citation": "Drewal, Henry John. African Art: A Brief Guide to the Collection. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1989, fig.6.",
                "page_number": "",
                "url": ""
            },
            {
                "citation": "Judith Perani and Fred T. Smith, The Visual Arts of Africa: Gender, Power, and Life Cycle Rituals, (Prentice Hall, NJ, 1998), fig. 6.7, pp. 175-176.",
                "page_number": "",
                "url": ""
            },
            {
                "citation": "Fagg, William. <em>African Tribal Images; the Katherine White Reswick Collection</em>. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968, no. 144.",
                "page_number": "Reproduced:  cat. No. 144",
                "url": ""
            },
            {
                "citation": "Lee, Sherman E. \"The Year in Review for 1968.\" <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 56, no. 1 (1969): 3-50.",
                "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 43; mentioned: p. 46, no. 56",
                "url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152250"
            },
            {
                "citation": "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": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 88, fig. 2",
                "url": "https://www-jstor-org.ingallslibrary.idm.oclc.org/stable/25161449"
            },
            {
                "citation": "Young-Sanchez, Margaret, \"A Royal Plaque\", Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em>. Vol. 39 no. 07, September 1999",
                "page_number": "Mentioned & reproduced: p. 8-9",
                "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM1999-07/page/8"
            },
            {
                "citation": "Petridis, Constantijn. <em>South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. </em>Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003.",
                "page_number": "Reproduced: cat. 26, p. 82 - 83",
                "url": ""
            },
            {
                "citation": "Windmuller-Luna, Kristen. \u201cArt from the Benin Kingdom.\u201d <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine </em>61, no. 1 (Winter 2021): 34-35.",
                "page_number": "Reproduced: P. 34-35; Mentioned: P. 34.",
                "url": ""
            },
            {
                "citation": "<em>Digital Benin, </em>Markk Museum Am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Kunste der Welt<em>, (</em>Last Updated: 2021-02-13)",
                "page_number": "ID 143898",
                "url": "https://digitalbenin.org/catalogue/8_143898"
            }
        ],
        "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1968.284",
        "images": {
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                "date_created": "2009-10-27T13:01:40",
                "annotation": ""
            }
        ],
        "creditline": "Gift of Katherine C. White",
        "image_credit": null,
        "sketchfab_id": null,
        "sketchfab_url": null,
        "gallery_donor_text": null,
        "athena_id": 143898,
        "creators": [],
        "legal_status": "accessioned",
        "accession_date": "1969-01-22T00:00:00",
        "sortable_date": 1815,
        "date_added_to_oa": null,
        "date_text": "c. 1820",
        "collapse_artists": false,
        "on_loan": false,
        "recently_acquired": false,
        "record_type": "object",
        "conservation_statement": null,
        "has_conservation_images": false,
        "cover_accession_number": null,
        "is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
        "impression": null,
        "alternate_titles": [
            "Carved Tusk",
            "Altar Tusk"
        ],
        "is_highlight": false,
        "updated_at": "2026-05-29 07:23:28.430000"
    }
}