A Hornblower in the style of Benin, Ikpakohẹn (horn-blower or flute-player figures) provide entertainment at private or public functions, festivals or events. He is depicted as playing an Oko, a horn made of ivory. Ikpakohẹn are members of a guild of the same name. Ikpakohẹn are cast in brass and the figures usually wear a woven cap and a leopard-tooth neck ornament and are shown blowing into a horn or flute. At the waist, a wrapper is tied with a stylised knot of cloth projecting upwards, and a leopard pendant mask is attached to this tie. Hornblower Figures, cast brass, Nigeria, Benin; 17th or 18th century (last photo sequence). Standing male figure of an Oba's hornblower playing a sideblown horn. He wears a feathered cap, a collar of leopard's teeth, a decorated chest-covering secured by straps across his sides, & a wrapper with an elaborate upturned tie ornamented at the hip with a leopard's mask. Cast in brass using the lost-wax method. Condition: complete, except for the loss of the top part of the cap feather, & two broken teeth at the back of the collar. An imperfect cutting with much contemporary patching on the back & sides. See: Supplementary File; "New Benin Discoveries in Scotland", by Dale Idiens, African Arts 14 (4), August, 1986, 52. Wider World Gallery Label Text, 2001: Hornblower. Nigeria, Benin. Seventeenth or eighteenth century. Cast brass figure of court attendant playing an ivory horn. He wears a hat with feather (damaged), a collar of leopard's teeth, a decorated chest covering secured by straps, and a wrapper with an elaborate upturned tie ornamented at the hip with a leopard mask. Three-dimensional figures of various forms were manufactured to stand on the altars of the obas (kings) in the palace courtyard. The hornblower figures are the rarest, and until the example here was discovered in Greenock, only four others in this style were known to exist. One belongs to a private collector on the continent, one is in a museum in Berlin, and two (including a badly damaged example) are in the British Museum, London. || The four Benin figures (A.1985.630-633) were donated to the McLean Museum and Art Gallery, 9 Union Street, Greenock in 1925 by Sir William Northrup McMillan (a wealthy American of Scots descent). The McLean Museum and Art Gallery lent the four figures to the Royal Scottish Museum on 1 February 1973 (A.L.468.1-4). The Inverclyde district Council (then responsible for the McLean Museum and Art Gallery), Municipal Buildings, Greenock sold the four figures to the Royal Museum of Scotland on 18 November 1985. I believe that the import of all art objects from Africa—whether copies or originals—should be prohibited to protect Africa." Quote: Prof. Dr. Viola König, former director of the Ethnological Museum of Berlin, now HUMBOLDTFORUM Legal Framework Under the 1970 UNESCO Convention in combination with the Kulturgutschutz Gesetz (KGSG) any claim for the restitution of cultural property becomes time-barred three years after the competent authorities of the State of origin obtain knowledge of the object’s location and the identity of its possessor. All bronzes and terracotta items offered have been publicly exhibited in Wolfgang Jaenicke Gallery since 2001. Organisations such as DIGITAL BENIN and academic institutions such as the Technical University of Berlin, which have been intensively involved in restitution-reseaches (translocation-project) over the past seven years, are aware of our work, have inspected large parts of our collection and have visited us in our dependance in Lomé, Togo, among other places, to learn about the international Art trade on site. Furthermore, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) in Abuja, Nigeria, has been informed about our collection. In no case in the past have there been restitution claims against private institutions such as the Wolfgang Jaenicke Gallery Our Gallery addresses these structural challenges through a policy of maximum transparency and documentation. Should any questions or uncertainties arise, we invite you to contact us. Each matter will be reviewed diligently using all available resources. Non-binding TL Analysis on request, 350,- Euro extra CAB21114