recordNumber
1115482
Institution
Field Museum
Edo designations
English designations
Knife and Dagger
Categories
Ceremonial Objects
Location
1400 S Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL 60605, United States
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15_1115482
15_1115482
15_1115482
15_1115482
15_1115482

Iconographies

1 annotations
Ẹkpẹn
Leopard

The Ẹkpẹn (leopard) is an animal that appears most often among the motifs decorating the Emwin Arhe (royal treasures). The Ẹkpẹn symbolises the valour and strength of the Ọba, as well as his political authority. The Benin people eulogise the Ọba as the ‘ẹkpẹn n'owa’ (leopard of the home).

When a hunter kills a leopard, he must say “ẹkpẹn n'oha” (I killed a bush leopard), as it is taboo to say that a hunter killed a leopard without specifying that it is a bush leopard, as otherwise this would “be tantamount to symbolically killing the king” (Nevadomsky 1988, p. 81). For this reason, leopards of the bush are called Atalakpa to distinguish them from those that represent the Ọba.

1 annotation
Ẹkpẹn

Provenance

5 events
Production
unknown to February 22, 1897 (day approximate)
The object was produced by Unknown member(s) of the Igun-Ematon guild and Unknown member(s) of the Igun-Ẹrọnmwọn guild in Benin City.
Looted
February 22, 1897 (day approximate) to June 1899 (year approximate)
The object was looted by Unknown member of the British colonial military campaign on Benin - February 1897 from Benin Kingdom.
Unknown
1900s to 1961
The object is known to have come into contact with Alfred Walter Francis Fuller, later in London.
Inheritance
1961
The object was inherited by Estelle W. Fuller from Alfred Walter Francis Fuller in London.
Gift
1963
The object was given as a gift by Estelle W. Fuller to the Field Museum from London to Chicago.

Institution data

Field Museum
The data was transferred directly by the institution.
Last updated: 2022-01-21
Language: english
Institution fieldValue
catalogNumber
object id
210308
occurrenceID
object id
4b987d8d-39be-4638-b169-6aa52f446894
recordNumber
object id
1115482
culturalArtefactDescription/1/Full_Description
description
yam knife with iron blade and a cast brass handle with a leopard's head at the end - see photo onback of catalog card; Dimensions: L = 37.2 cm; 14 5/8"
culturalArtefactDescription/1/null
description
culturalArtefactDescription/3/Full_Description
description
culturalArtefactDescription/3/Sub_Description
description
culturalArtefactDescription/4/null
description
materials
material
metal; brass
culturalArtefactDescription/0/Basic_Description
object type
knife
culturalArtefactFunction
object type
culturalArtefactParts
object type
period
date made
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production technique
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production technique
locality
production place
Benin City
Accession info
prior source
[2815] Mrs. A. W. F. Fuller (Gift)
culturalAffiliation
ethnic attribution
Edo
dates/accession_year
accession date
1963
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139
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license
Courtesy of: C. J. Philipp. (c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/6703492a-fd04-4ecd-ad5a-e1f39baeb388 (accessed on 14 Jun 2021)
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(c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/e6ce5aac-7f59-471b-a46e-709134d4c36d (accessed on 24 Oct 2021)
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Courtesy of: R. Testa. (c) Field Museum of Natural History. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/7c7541ea-7c0b-43ec-981b-0b5271e353f6 (accessed on 29 Oct 2021)
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Courtesy of: C. J. Philipp, J. W. Kennedy. (c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/7298bfc5-194e-4e68-9c76-a1dbc61b60ae (accessed on 13 Jan 2022)
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R. 2/60
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Sensitive Content

Digital Benin collates digital material from institutions, and some of this material is inherently colonial and contains words, terms and phrases that are inaccurate, derogatory and harmful towards African and African diasporic communities. Catalogue transcriptions, book titles, exhibition titles and museum titles may contain harmful terms. We recognise the potential for the material to cause physical and mental distress as well as evoke strong emotions. Owing to the scale of the collection’s data, a process to implement sensitive-content warnings in the displayed data is still incomplete. The material within the catalogue does not represent Digital Benin’s views. Digital Benin maintains a strong anti-colonial, anti-racist position and affirms its support for centring the humanity of historically marginalised and disenfranchised communities. Read more about the background of this statement here