An Ife bronze head which is, according to Frobenius, probably the sea god or the sea goddess Olokun. There is a copy in the Brooklyn Museum whose provenance is unknown and there are some specimens in the National Museum in Lagos. In the meantime, there may be a few dozen bronzes of this divinity of different ages. According to Frobenius, these sculptures are to be buried at the foot of trees and would be dug up again if they were used for ritual purposes; greenish oxidised patina, partly encrusted. "Schätze aus Al-Nnigeria", Minister der Kultur der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, page 16 ff;

This object can be visitedin the Gallery Wolfgang Jaenicke, Berlin. It will not be sent and can only be picked up. After the end of the auction, the highest bidder can have the object for further analysis by its own account without significantly affecting the object in its substance. For this analysis, the winner of the auction has a period of 14 days. The object is from an old African Collection. Restitution organizations and individuals who are intensively concerned with restitution issues were informed about the object. See also Cultural Property Protection Law (Kultur Gut Schutz Gesetz - KGSG). TL Analysis 500 years +/- 17 %

More info on request

Height: 35 cm
Weight: 2,4 kg

According to the 1970 UNESCO Convention, the right to repatriation expires one year after the authorities of a country of origin have learned where and with whom a cultural asset is located. The Wolfgang Jaenicke Gallery therefore always provided information about each newly imported object. Especially about the bronzes from Nigeria shown on this page, which are published on the Internet and are accessible to everyone. Organizations that deal with restitution matters, as well as free art historians employed by the state, such as restitution experts such as Benedicte Savoy, are regularly informed about objects in the Wolfgang Jaenicke Gallery.

Every buyer of an art object, regardless of whether it is made of wood, clay or bronze, must be aware that, from a European legal perspective, traditional African art usually came with inadequate export documents from the respective African country of origin. The Wolfgang Jaenicke Gallery, Berlin, tries to do justice to this dilemma by acting with the greatest possible transparency. The export policy of African states is problematic for art-historical research, because African and European traders usually work under cover due to diffuse legal situations and important information that was passed on from trade to research before 1970 tends to be lost.

In the event of any uncertainty, please contact the managing director of Jaenicke-Njoya GmbH - Wolfgang Jaenicke. It is in the gallery's interest to clarify any questionable situation with all available means.

Okokun Bronze head, leftt, during the exhibition