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Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
Altar (Asen)
Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
© Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami. All rights reserved.

Altar (Asen)

Artist/Maker (Benin)
Date20th century
Mediumiron, cotton and plant fiber
DimensionsOverall: 47 3/4 x 12 1/2 x 13 3/8 in. (121.3 x 31.8 x 34 cm)
ClassificationsVisual Works
Credit LineGift of Charles Jones
Terms
    Object number92.0034
    DescriptionThis object reflects the ritual importance of iron in connection with transformation to, or communication with, the spiritual realm. Iron is made and worked by blacksmiths, some of whom especially those in West Africa are also ritual specialists. By means of fire they transform a material of the earth into tools and weapons associated with the letting of blood in hunting, warfare, and circumcision. Their knowledge is considered secret and mysterious, and their products are essential to many activities of life from farming to rites of passage. As is typical of iron altar devices, this is made in the form of a staff so that they may be thrust into earthen altars. The Asen, which includes a scene identifying a particular individual or family, is inserted in an earthen altar in a family ancestral shrine; it represents the most particularized use of iron: for communication with the dead.
    On View
    Not on view
    Collections
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