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In parallel with a similarly-themed exhibit at Berlin’s Museum of Ethnology in Dahlem, our exhibition of over 60 objects emphasizes and augments various important aspects of classical Benin culture. Texts accompanying the works challenge existing ethnologically-informed research and promote in its place a reorganisation causing quite a stir around the world. In opposition to the common belief that the oldest Benin bronzes date from circa 600 years ago, our exhibition features objects up to 950 years old. In addition, it includes several of the extraordinarily realistic bronzes known as Ife Heads, presented for the first time ever as belonging to Beninese culture. Up until now, the high quality of these Ife heads has fostered the presumption that the roots of the bronze-caster tradition can be traced to Ife. Our numerous older Benin bronzes, however, convincingly controvert this thesis, suggesting instead that the Ife and Benin styles developed concurrently.
For the second time the Galery Peter Herrmann is showing an unusually large selection of 70 of these bronze objects from 11th till 19th centuries, among them heads and figures from Ife, as well as reliefs, statues, heads and animals from Benin. All objects, which came onto the market in the 20th century are certified by experts.
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