{
"data": {
"id": 147489,
"accession_number": "1973.221",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Hen, 1900s. Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, \u1eb8do peoples, member(s) of the Igbesanmwan (wood and ivory carvers) guild. Wood; overall: 47.6 cm (18 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katherine C. White, 1973.221",
"current_location": "108A African",
"title": "Hen",
"creation_date": "1900s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1900,
"creation_date_latest": 1925,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, \u1eb8do peoples, member(s) of the Igbesanmwan (wood and ivory carvers) guild"
],
"technique": "wood",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "African Art",
"collection": "African Art",
"type": "Sculpture",
"measurements": "Overall: 47.6 cm (18 3/4 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.476,
"height_inch": 18,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.75
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 301878,
"title": "Year in Review: 1973",
"description": "Year in Review: 1973. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 30-March 17, 1974).",
"opening_date": "1974-01-30T05:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 10 \u2013 September 1, 1968)",
"opening_date": "1968-09-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Icon and symbol : The cult of the ancestor in African art. Cranbrook Academy of Art/Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI (May 30\u2013July 20, 1975)",
"opening_date": "1975-07-20T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Commissioned from the Igbesanmwan, Benin Kingdom",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1900s",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "(Robert L. Stolper gallery, New York City)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "no earlier than 1961",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "Katherine C. White [1929-1980], Gates Mills, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"\u2022 Photo negative in curatorial file with reference date 1/1/1962
\u2022 Published in African Tribal Images (CMA 1968) as cat. No. 150
"
],
"date": "by at least 1962",
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"- Acquired as gift at December 28, 1973 meeting
- Acquisition publicized in CMA Bulletin Feb 1974 \u201cYear in Review 1973\u201d (cat. #13, repr. p. 71)
"
],
"date": "1973\u2013",
"sortorder": 5
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [
"923.68"
],
"did_you_know": "The interlacing pattern on the base of this sculpture can be seen in Benin Kingdom works in materials from wood to ivory to metal.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Materials used for ritual objects correspond with the status of their owner, or the person it was dedicated to. Men have cast brass roosters, while women have carved wooden hens like this. This egg-shaped bird is covered with patterns formed by parallel lines indicating the bird\u2019s feathers, from fluffy tufts to sleek plumage. Realistically carved, it replicates an animal that would be sacrificed on a woman\u2019s shrine. On an ancestral altar, it sat alongside other objects like rattle staffs. While Benin is patriarchal (men and their male sons lead), women are important; men cannot succeed spiritually or politically without them.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79926648"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1973.221-hen"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "\"The Year in Review for 1968.\" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 61, no. 2 (February 1974): 31-78.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 71, cat. 13; mentioned: p. 73, cat. 13",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25152513"
},
{
"citation": "Fagg, William. African Tribal Images; the Katherine White Reswick Collection. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968, no. 150.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: cat. 150",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Broudy, Elizabeth, Elizabeth Youngblood. Icon and Symbol : The Cult of the Ancestor in African Art. Bloomfield Hills, MI: Cranbrook Academy of Art/Museum, 1975",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Windmuller-Luna, Kristen. \u201cArt from the Benin Kingdom.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 1 (Winter 2021): 34-35.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 34-35.",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Digital Benin, Markk Museum Am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Kunste der Welt, (Last Updated: 2021-02-13)",
"page_number": "ID 147489",
"url": "https://digitalbenin.org/catalogue/8_147489"
}
],
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"creditline": "Gift of Katherine C. White",
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"updated_at": "2026-05-29 07:33:48.975000"
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