A bronze sculpture - Ibierugha - Benin - Nigeria
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Selected by Dimitri André
Holds a postgraduate degree in African studies and 15 years experience in African art.
Estimate € 1,800 - € 2,200
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Bronze Ibierugha attendant figure from Benin, Nigeria, 66 cm tall, 10.8 kg, in fair condition, without a stand.
AI-assisted summary
Description from the seller
A rare Ibierugha (attendant figures) sculpture with a Sword or Eben in Ibierugha the left hand. Probably it is a fragmentary, slightly bent Eben, whose lower part is no longer existing. The left foot is nearly broken at the level of the toes. endigmatic, which the figure carries in its right hand. Digital Benin knows only 11 exeplares.
Ibierugha are in the first stage of being initiated into chieftaincy. They are wearing the Odigba, which is the bead collar worn by the Ọba and chiefs, and have a distinctive hairstyle or headdress which would have been the fashion for chiefs.
An Ibierugha sculpture collected by Mert Simpson (1928 – 2013) shows a fragmentary Eben, where the upper part is missing, but the lower part is intact (last photo sequence).
Ibierugha are either carved in ivory or cast in brass/bronze. As with much of Benin art, they are not portraits of specific people, but depict in a general manner attendants who would have served the Ọba. The boys or men all wear a distinctive headdress or hairstyle with a raised section down the centre part. The figures are often naked except for a beaded string or girdle around the waist or hips, and they often wear a beaded choker which can only be worn by an individual of high rank in the court. The figures usually stand on top of square bases decorated with low relief guilloche motifs: Source Digital Benin
igures of the Ibierugha, the titled courtiers and officials of the Benin Kingdom, are generally depicted not with swords, but with eben—the flat, leaf- or fan-shaped emblems made of ivory or brass. The eben functions as a symbol of loyalty, dignity, and rank, and is held in the right hand or waved before the face during ceremonial occasions.
Swords—especially the ada or eben-ada types—appear primarily in depictions of warriors or in compositions that emphasize martial power, often in association with the Oba or commanders of the military guilds.
Thus, in Benin court iconography, the presence of the eben distinguishes the Ibierugha as civil and ceremonial officials, whereas the sword identifies figures connected with warfare and royal authority.
Depictions of Ibierugha figures from the Benin Kingdom are generally clothed, typically wearing ornamented court garments. These consist of wrapped cloths or aprons (ukpo), often elaborately patterned and secured with belts or beadwork. They also display bead necklaces, bracelets, and anklets, signifying rank and proximity to the Oba.
While the upper body may sometimes appear bare, this reflects an artistic convention rather than actual nudity, emphasizing vitality, dignity, and controlled strength. Fully nude figures are not characteristic of Ibierugha representations; their dress and regalia clearly identify them as members of the courtly hierarchy, distinct from servants, attendants, or lower-ranking warriors.
Paula Ben-Amos, The Art of Benin (London: Thames and Hudson, 1980).
Barbara Plankensteiner (ed.), Benin – Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria (Vienna: Museum für Völkerkunde / Snoeck, 2007).
Kathleen Bickford Berzock and Barbara Plankensteiner (eds.), Benin: Royal Arts of a West African Kingdom (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 2008).
Philip J. C. Dark, An Introduction to Benin Art and Technology (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962).
Kathryn Wysocki Gunsch, The Benin Plaques: A 16th-Century Imperial Monument (New York: Routledge, 2018).
Ezra, Kate, Royal Art of Benin: The Perls Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992).
William Fagg, Nigerian Images (London: Lund Humphries, 1963).
Seller's Story
For over twenty-five years, Wolfgang Jaenicke has been active as a collector and, for the past two decades, as a specialist dealer in African art, with a particular focus on material often subsumed under the term “Tribal Art”. His early engagement with cultural history was shaped by his father’s extensive archive on the former “German Colonies”, a collection of documents, publications and artefacts that introduced him to the evidentiary and historical significance of objects at a young age.
Jaenicke pursued studies in ethnology, art history and comparative law at the Freie Universität Berlin. Motivated by an interest in cultural dynamics beyond the limitations of academic formalism, he left the university to undertake extended research and travel in West and Central Africa. His fieldwork and professional activities took him through Cameroon, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Togo and Ghana, establishing long-term relationships with artists, collectors, researchers and local institutions.
From 2002 to 2012 he lived primarily in Mali, based in Bamako and Ségou. During this period he directed Tribalartforum, a gallery housed in a historic colonial building overlooking the Ségou harbour. The gallery became a notable site for contemporary and historical cultural production, hosting exhibitions of Bamana sculpture and ceramics, as well as photographic works including those of Malick Sidibé, whose images of the 1970s youth culture in Mali remain internationally influential. The outbreak of the war in Mali in 2012 necessitated the closure of the gallery.
Following his departure from Mali, Jaenicke established his base of operations in Lomé, Togo, where he and his partners maintain a permanent branch. The Jaenicke-Njoya GmbH, founded sixteen years earlier, serves as the organisational and legal framework for these activities. In 2018, the Galerie Wolfgang Jaenicke opened its Berlin location opposite Charlottenburg Palace, operating today with a team of approximately twelve specialists.
A significant focus of the gallery’s curatorial and research work lies in West African bronzes and terracotta. As part of ongoing efforts toward transparency and precise cultural documentation, Jaenicke collaborated with the Technische Universität Berlin’s “Translocation Project”, contributing insight into the circulation of archaeological and ethnographic objects within the international art trade in Lomé. The gallery maintains continuous dialogue with national museums across West Africa and regularly publishes updates on its activities in Lomé and Berlin via its website: wolfgang-jaenicke
Jaenicke’s practice combines long-term field engagement with a commitment to provenance research, museum-level documentation, and the ethical stewardship of cultural heritage. His work continues to bridge local knowledge networks and international scholarly discourse.
A rare Ibierugha (attendant figures) sculpture with a Sword or Eben in Ibierugha the left hand. Probably it is a fragmentary, slightly bent Eben, whose lower part is no longer existing. The left foot is nearly broken at the level of the toes. endigmatic, which the figure carries in its right hand. Digital Benin knows only 11 exeplares.
Ibierugha are in the first stage of being initiated into chieftaincy. They are wearing the Odigba, which is the bead collar worn by the Ọba and chiefs, and have a distinctive hairstyle or headdress which would have been the fashion for chiefs.
An Ibierugha sculpture collected by Mert Simpson (1928 – 2013) shows a fragmentary Eben, where the upper part is missing, but the lower part is intact (last photo sequence).
Ibierugha are either carved in ivory or cast in brass/bronze. As with much of Benin art, they are not portraits of specific people, but depict in a general manner attendants who would have served the Ọba. The boys or men all wear a distinctive headdress or hairstyle with a raised section down the centre part. The figures are often naked except for a beaded string or girdle around the waist or hips, and they often wear a beaded choker which can only be worn by an individual of high rank in the court. The figures usually stand on top of square bases decorated with low relief guilloche motifs: Source Digital Benin
igures of the Ibierugha, the titled courtiers and officials of the Benin Kingdom, are generally depicted not with swords, but with eben—the flat, leaf- or fan-shaped emblems made of ivory or brass. The eben functions as a symbol of loyalty, dignity, and rank, and is held in the right hand or waved before the face during ceremonial occasions.
Swords—especially the ada or eben-ada types—appear primarily in depictions of warriors or in compositions that emphasize martial power, often in association with the Oba or commanders of the military guilds.
Thus, in Benin court iconography, the presence of the eben distinguishes the Ibierugha as civil and ceremonial officials, whereas the sword identifies figures connected with warfare and royal authority.
Depictions of Ibierugha figures from the Benin Kingdom are generally clothed, typically wearing ornamented court garments. These consist of wrapped cloths or aprons (ukpo), often elaborately patterned and secured with belts or beadwork. They also display bead necklaces, bracelets, and anklets, signifying rank and proximity to the Oba.
While the upper body may sometimes appear bare, this reflects an artistic convention rather than actual nudity, emphasizing vitality, dignity, and controlled strength. Fully nude figures are not characteristic of Ibierugha representations; their dress and regalia clearly identify them as members of the courtly hierarchy, distinct from servants, attendants, or lower-ranking warriors.
Paula Ben-Amos, The Art of Benin (London: Thames and Hudson, 1980).
Barbara Plankensteiner (ed.), Benin – Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria (Vienna: Museum für Völkerkunde / Snoeck, 2007).
Kathleen Bickford Berzock and Barbara Plankensteiner (eds.), Benin: Royal Arts of a West African Kingdom (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 2008).
Philip J. C. Dark, An Introduction to Benin Art and Technology (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962).
Kathryn Wysocki Gunsch, The Benin Plaques: A 16th-Century Imperial Monument (New York: Routledge, 2018).
Ezra, Kate, Royal Art of Benin: The Perls Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992).
William Fagg, Nigerian Images (London: Lund Humphries, 1963).
Seller's Story
For over twenty-five years, Wolfgang Jaenicke has been active as a collector and, for the past two decades, as a specialist dealer in African art, with a particular focus on material often subsumed under the term “Tribal Art”. His early engagement with cultural history was shaped by his father’s extensive archive on the former “German Colonies”, a collection of documents, publications and artefacts that introduced him to the evidentiary and historical significance of objects at a young age.
Jaenicke pursued studies in ethnology, art history and comparative law at the Freie Universität Berlin. Motivated by an interest in cultural dynamics beyond the limitations of academic formalism, he left the university to undertake extended research and travel in West and Central Africa. His fieldwork and professional activities took him through Cameroon, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Togo and Ghana, establishing long-term relationships with artists, collectors, researchers and local institutions.
From 2002 to 2012 he lived primarily in Mali, based in Bamako and Ségou. During this period he directed Tribalartforum, a gallery housed in a historic colonial building overlooking the Ségou harbour. The gallery became a notable site for contemporary and historical cultural production, hosting exhibitions of Bamana sculpture and ceramics, as well as photographic works including those of Malick Sidibé, whose images of the 1970s youth culture in Mali remain internationally influential. The outbreak of the war in Mali in 2012 necessitated the closure of the gallery.
Following his departure from Mali, Jaenicke established his base of operations in Lomé, Togo, where he and his partners maintain a permanent branch. The Jaenicke-Njoya GmbH, founded sixteen years earlier, serves as the organisational and legal framework for these activities. In 2018, the Galerie Wolfgang Jaenicke opened its Berlin location opposite Charlottenburg Palace, operating today with a team of approximately twelve specialists.
A significant focus of the gallery’s curatorial and research work lies in West African bronzes and terracotta. As part of ongoing efforts toward transparency and precise cultural documentation, Jaenicke collaborated with the Technische Universität Berlin’s “Translocation Project”, contributing insight into the circulation of archaeological and ethnographic objects within the international art trade in Lomé. The gallery maintains continuous dialogue with national museums across West Africa and regularly publishes updates on its activities in Lomé and Berlin via its website: wolfgang-jaenicke
Jaenicke’s practice combines long-term field engagement with a commitment to provenance research, museum-level documentation, and the ethical stewardship of cultural heritage. His work continues to bridge local knowledge networks and international scholarly discourse.
Details
Indigenous object name
Ibierugha
Ethnic group/ culture
Benin
Country of Origin
Nigeria
Material
Bronze
Sold with stand
No
Condition
Fair condition
Title of artwork
A bronze sculpture
Height
66 cm
Weight
10.8 kg
Sold by
GermanyVerified
protop
Rechtliche Informationen des Verkäufers
- Unternehmen:
- Jaenicke Njoya GmbH
- Repräsentant:
- Wolfgang Jaenicke
- Adresse:
- Jaenicke Njoya GmbH
Klausenerplatz 7
14059 Berlin
GERMANY - Telefonnummer:
- +493033951033
- Email:
- w.jaenicke@jaenicke-njoya.com
- USt-IdNr.:
- DE241193499
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