The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

Hen

1900s

Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, Ẹdo peoples, member guild

(s) of the Igbesanmwan (wood and ivory carvers)
wood
Overall: 47.6 cm (18 3/4 in.)
Gift of Katherine C. White 1973.221
Location: 108A African

Did You Know?

The interlacing pattern on the base of this sculpture can be seen in Benin Kingdom works in materials from wood to ivory to metal.

Description

Materials used for ritual objects correspond with the status of their owner, or the person it was dedicated to. Men have cast brass roosters, while women have carved wooden hens like this. This egg-shaped bird is covered with patterns formed by parallel lines indicating the bird’s feathers, from fluffy tufts to sleek plumage. Realistically carved, it replicates an animal that would be sacrificed on a woman’s shrine. On an ancestral altar, it sat alongside other objects like rattle staffs. While Benin is patriarchal (men and their male sons lead), women are important; men cannot succeed spiritually or politically without them.
  • 1900s
    Commissioned from the Igbesanmwan, Benin Kingdom
    no earlier than 1961
    (Robert L. Stolper gallery, New York City)
    by at least 1962
    Katherine C. White [1929-1980], Gates Mills, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1973–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 • Photo negative in curatorial file with reference date 1/1/1962 • Published in African Tribal Images (CMA 1968) as cat. No. 150
    2 Acquired as gift at December 28, 1973 meeting Acquisition publicized in CMA Bulletin Feb 1974 “Year in Review 1973” (cat. #13, repr. p. 71)
  • "The Year in Review for 1968." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 61, no. 2 (February 1974): 31-78. Reproduced: p. 71, cat. 13; mentioned: p. 73, cat. 13 www.jstor.org
    Fagg, William. African Tribal Images; the Katherine White Reswick Collection. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968, no. 150. Reproduced: cat. 150
    Broudy, Elizabeth, Elizabeth Youngblood. Icon and Symbol : The Cult of the Ancestor in African Art. Bloomfield Hills, MI: Cranbrook Academy of Art/Museum, 1975
    Windmuller-Luna, Kristen. “Art from the Benin Kingdom.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 1 (Winter 2021): 34-35. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 34-35.
    Digital Benin, Markk Museum Am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Kunste der Welt, (Last Updated: 2021-02-13) ID 147489 digitalbenin.org
  • Icon and symbol : The cult of the ancestor in African art. Cranbrook Academy of Art/Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI (May 30–July 20, 1975)
    Year in Review: 1973. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 30-March 17, 1974).
    African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 10 – September 1, 1968)
  • {{cite web|title=Hen|url=false|author=|year=1900s|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1973.221