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Friday, September 30, 2022

The brass throne stool of Oba Eresoyen, Benin City, Kingdom of Edo, Nigeria, 1735-1750


The brass throne stool of Oba Eresoyen, Benin City, Kingdom of Edo, Nigeria, 1735-1750. 

The throne of the king, or Oba, Eresoyen, an important patron of brass casting, was modeled after the throne stool of one of his powerful predecessors, the 16th century Oba Esigie. The intertwined pythons connect the divine order of civilization, the top of the seat, with that of nature, at the base. The sun, moon and cross on top of the seat represent the creation of the cosmic order. Ceremonial swords represent the king's power in this order. The blacksmith’s tools depicted in the center, anvil, bellows, tongs and hammer, represent civilization itself. The natural world at the base shows motifs of the forest such as the monkeys used as sacrificial animals and the "trunk hand", an elephant's trunk ending in a hand holding leaves, which stands for the occult power of Ọṣun existing in the plants, forests and groves. The frogs refer to water, the world of the sea god Olókun.

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