File:Antique Works of Art from Benin 36.jpg

Figs. 265 and 266.--Bronze grotesque mask, intended probably as a stand for the carved ivory tusks in the Ju-Ju houses. The eyeballs project like those of the head, No. 137. Three tribal marks over each eye, and four over the nose. The forehead is very projecting; the nose aquiline and very broad. Tags, apparently of coral, are on the sides. The ears are very large.

Fig. 267.--Brass bottle and chain, rudely cast.

Figs. 268 to 270.--Long oval wooden bowl carved out of the solid. On one side (Fig. 269) is a row of five human figures in relief; the central figure has his hands upheld by attendants, who hold in their other hands shields having barbed javelins, points upward behind them. The shields are ornamented with straight line diaper pattern. Another figure holds an object under the arm, perhaps a drum or a food vessel. At both ends there is a representation of a degenerate elephants's head, the proboscis terminating in a human hand holding a branch, similar to Figs. 72, 167, and 316. At one end is a rude representation of a degenerate mud-fish. The other side of the bowl (Fig. 268) is ornamented with a broad guilloche pattern and a square interlaced figure. The interior of the bowl is very rudely chiselled out, showing marks of the tool all over. The carving is very rough and much in the style of the execution block, Figs. 259 and 260, Plate XXXIV.