staff of office

Brass staff

The Oba of Benin gave the title of Iyase to to a powerful military commander who also acted as the peoples’ representative at the Oba’s court. Such staffs would have been carried by representatives of the Iyase to confirm their authority while fulfilling official duties on behalf of the Iyase. The top of this staff handle shows a Iyase, wearing his distinctive hat.

fighting

object
MUSEUM NUMBER
4385
Date
before 1897
PLACE
COLLECTION
MEASUREMENTS
overall: 780 mm x 15 mm x 25 mm
MATERIAL/TECHNIQUE
copper alloy
CATEGORY
Anthropology: Ethnography
LOCATION
On display: Horniman Museum > World Gallery > Africa > Nigeria - Benin
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Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

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