Met Museum Brokers Return of Three Artworks to Nigeria
Collector Ceil Pulitzer provided detailed provenance of the works, but the museum preferred another route.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has successfully arranged for the return of three sculptures to Nigeria, as part of a long-term loan agreement allowing them to be displayed in New York. These artworks will be showcased in the Rockefeller Wing's Arts of Africa galleries, later this month, and will also be made available for further research.
The collector Ceil Pulitzer, a painter from Arkansas who married into the Pulitzer Prize and Publishing Company family in 1970, sought to donate one copper figure and two terracotta busts from her collection to The Met in the previous year. The museum's director and CEO, Max Hollein, discussed this matter with the New York Times, stating that Pulitzer provided thorough provenance for the three pieces acquired between 2015 and 2018, yet it did not meet the museum's necessary requirements for accepting the gift.
The three sculptures, dating from the 12th to the 18th centuries, enhance The Met's display of Nigerian art, acting as exceptional examples of Ife and Benin artistic traditions. The Edo copper figure, depicting a 18th-century iyọ́bà (queen mother) from the Kingdom of Benin, is particularly noteworthy. This piece is a rare, individual representation of a woman in the kingdom's courtly tradition.
The museum explains that most queen mother castings were part of larger ensembles within an úrhọ̀tọ̀ (altar tableau), and the unique nature of this figure suggests it may have commemorated a prominent iyọ́bà who held the title between the late 17th and 18th centuries.
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