AFRICAN QUINTESSENCE
A gallery of the art of Africans
BENIN BRONZE SWORD
A masterfully crafted bronze ceremonial sword with a leopard theme . The leopard is considered a royal animal and it features prominently indifferent artistic and ceremonial contexts. The leopard’s cunning, ferocious nature, grace and strength are all the same traits attributed to the king. This sword features a figure with a beaked crown posed on a leopard on a circular platform beneath the handle. The handle itself is a masterpiece of subtle leopard motif, from the engraved spotted markings, to the fangs and whiskers rendered in relief, to the incised Y- shaped feline medial ridge. The handle guard, like the platform is rounded with eyelets rimming the edges, from which crotal balls hang from chains. The European styled blade is profusely etched in typical Benin motif.
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