Altarglocke mit portugiesischem Kopf – Benin (16.–17. Jahrhundert)

The face of a Portuguese man is cast in relief on the front of this bell. The face has a thin, beaklike nose with narrow nostrils, thinly rimmed eyes, and long sinuous hair. A moustache and flat, ovoid beard are incised with fine, wavy lines. Carefully modeled, bulges of muscle and bone are depicted. The image is crowned with a hat that is elaborately decorated with an incised fish-scale design and two feathers.

Portuguese merchants brought wealth to the kingdom in the form of overseas trade, and consequently were associated with Olokun, the god of the ocean who bestows prosperity on his adherents. The widespread use of Portuguese imagery in Benin courtly arts relates to worldly success attributed to divine guidance and protection. According to the Edo worldview, the realms of the living and dead are separated by a vast body of water. The trans-Atlantic movements of the Portuguese were conceived of as bridging these two distinct spheres of existence, and their images were employed as symbols for the communication with the supernatural that ancestral altars facilitated.

em [https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/316555](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/316555)