Big Head of Oni De Ife

For many years it was thought that the figures of Ife and Benin were of Roman, Greek or Phoenician origin, given their realism and technical quality.

According to tradition, upon the death of the first Oba, king of Benin, his head was sent to the Oni, king of Ife, of whom he was a tax collector, to proceed with his burial. The Oni de Ife returned a head melted in bronze, reproduction of that of the Oba, for its placement n the altar of the ancestors. This seems to be the origin of the custom of melting bronze heads in Benin. These heads had a central orifice intended to receive an elephant tusk in which the battles and heroic deeds of the Oba were sculpted.

Later the king of Benin asked Ife to send him a bronze castor to teach this art to his people. This is how the art of lost wax is implanted in Benin. Heads were also melted in representation of the high foreign dignitaries defeated in combat who gave great signs of courage.

There was a time when it was customary to place the heads of the enemies on spades that were huddled around the Oba Palace. Knowing times of peace, human heads would be replaced by bronze heads. Many of the bronze heads found during the looting by the English of the city of Benin 1897 They would be part of these heads.

The kingdom of Ife was particularly prosperous over the centuries XII a XVI. Benin, from the century on XII and until the end of XIX was one of the most important political entities in sub-Saharan Africa.

For the thinness of the walls of this piece can only pre-century XVIII, from this date the strokes are rougher and the walls thicker, but only the thermoluminescence test can give an exact dating.