Publication: 1897. Bacon, Reginald Hugh Spencer. Benin The City of Blood. Original language: English Caption: Ju-ju House at Benin. Text: “Chapter VII. Benin. Benin is an irregular straggling town formed by groups of houses separated from each other by patches of bush. It is perhaps a mile and a half long from east to west, and a mile from north to south…Houses then straggle on on the left side, till high red-clay walls are encountered, with a galvanised iron roof sloping outwards from the northern wall. This is the main entrance to the King’s compound. In this compound or village are the Juju compounds, Palava House, King’s House, and many houses for the King’s immediate followers and the Juju priests. It was in these Juju compounds that the main sacrifices were carried out. To describe one of these Juju places will be to describe all of them, as they only differed in position and size. These spaces were about a hundred and fifty yards long, and about sixty broad, surrounded by a high wall, and covered with a short brown grass. At one end was a long shed running the whole breadth of the enclosure, and under this was the altar. The altar was made by three steps running the whole length under the shelter of the shed; slightly raised for some distance in the centre, on which raised portion were handsomely-carved ivory tusks placed on the top of very antique bronze heads. Near these tusks were carved clubs, undoubtedly for use upon the victims of the sacrifice. The altar was deluged in blood, the smell of which was too overpowering for many of us. This same awful smell seemed to pervade the whole compound, as if the grass had been watered with blood. In the centre of several of these Juju places was an iron erection like a hugh candelabra with sharp hooks. Its purpose was not known, but it is probable that it was some instrument of torture, or for hanging portions of the victims on. In most of the Juju compounds was a well for the reception of the bodies.” (pp. 86-88) Illustrator: W.H. Overend, Mr. Overends illustrations are from sketches supplied by the Author and by the courtesy of the Proprietors of the Illustrated London News. (p. 7) Illustration technique: b/w field drawing Publication page: facing p. 88 Publication plate/figure: figure Related images: This image referred to in caption for #1123.68. Keywords: • Benin City (Country, region, place) • Nigeria (Country, region, place) • brass (Materials and techniques) • elephant ivory (Materials and techniques) • shrine (Notable features) • altar head (Object name, type) • mask stand (Object name, type) • tusk base (Object name, type) • Edo (Style, culture group) Comments: Jim Ross, (9/1/2009): In a sub-section on Royal Ancestral Altars, beginning on p157 in Benin Kings and Rituals - Court Arts from Nigeria (2007) edited by Barbara Plankensteiner, one finds images of such altars in a May 1891 photo (fig 7 on p156) & in an 1823 drawing possibly by the Italian explorer Giovanni Belzoni (fig 8 on p157). Jim Ross, (12/12/2010): See article by Jeremy Coote & Elizabeth Edwards Images of Benin at the Pitt Rivers Museum on pp26-35 & 93 of the Autumn 1997 issue (Vol. XXX, No. 4) of African Arts. Jim Ross, (7/17/2013): See extensive commentary on a relevant Sketch Of The Burying Place Of A King Of Benin by Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778-1823) in pl. 1 on pp57-9 of William Faggs One Hundred Notes on Nigerian Art from Christies Catalogues 1974-1990 in the November 1991 issue of the Milan periodical Quaderni Poro.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 13:01:23 +0000
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