African antiquities, Bronze plate from Benin, showing a giant or ruler with two bell-boys. 16th or 17-th century. The bronze exists of copper, lead, zinc with slight admixtures of tin and nickel. Tracks of arsenic and antimony indicate the Iberian peninsula as a country of origin of the material. Remarkable is that the pupils of the eyes and the tattoo scars of the heads consist of iron, which is casted in the production of the bronze. The colour of the bronze changes from purest Brass-yellow up to the fullest bronze tone. Fetish trees contain a compact iron core, all other objects are poured in the manner of lost form, only the chasing is additional punched. The records, 50-70 cm high, served in immense number for the clothing of the walls and pillars in the palace of Benin. The use of the heads is still uncertain.
