ClassificationsAfrican Art

Asen

Place CreatedBenin, Africa

CultureFon

Datelate 20th Century

MediumBrass

Credit LineGift of Dr. Edna Bay

Object number2012.004.025

Label TextThe figures atop asen are not in themselves powerful; rather, they are the visual representation of symbols, proverbs, fables, and poetry that praise the deceased, evoke the ache (power) of ancestors, and remind the living to keep their commitments to the dead.

The tableau of this asen shows a kneeling figure holding and offering a calabash vessel to two seated figures. For the Fon, the calabash is a container for serving food. The offering of the calabash is also a metaphor for the connection between the living and the dead; ancestors too drink from the calabash offered by the living. The purpose of the calabash parallels the purpose of an asen: both are vessels of offering and a way in which the living can communicate with the dead.
Exhibition HistoryDivine Intervention: African Art and Religion, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 5 - December 4, 2011
MCCM Permanent Collection Installation, March 29, 2013 - December 1, 2014
Published ReferencesMCCM Newsletter, Spring-Summer 2012.

ProvenanceEx coll. Edna Bay, United States, purchased in Abomey, Benin, 1984.

Status

Not on view

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