Curriculum Materials: Amazing Animals in
Art
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Image 6 African, Nigeria (Benin) Essays: Questions: |
Suggested Questions: Grades 4-6 - Teachers Key
- What kind of animal do you think this is? How can you
tell? Does this look like a real leopard? What physical
characteristics of a leopard are depicted to make it look
NATURALISTIC
(as it actually appears)? What aspects of the
leopard are
ABSTRACT?
- Does this leopard seem friendly or fierce? What about
the leopard conveys friendliness? What about the leopard
conveys fierceness? (The leopard seems to be smiling,
but he is showing large teeth; he is standing still, but
his legs are taut and he could be getting ready to
spring!)
- In Benin, the leopard was associated with the ruler,
the oba. What attributes of a leopard might a ruler
share? (The leopard is powerful, swift, beautiful,
cunning, frightening, agile, alert, etc.) If you were
a ruler, what animal would you want to be associated
with? Why?
- This bronze leopard was used by the ruler of the
Benin people as an aquamanile. What do you suppose that
word means? Discuss the Aquatennial or aquatic sports,
etc., and the meaning of manual labor. Can you figure out
from what part of the leopard the water flowed?
(Nostrils.)
- Why do you think the oba would have this aquamanile
made for him? (Answers include: to enhance his image
or prestige, to keep the court sculptors in business, to
add majesty and glamour to court ceremonies,
etc.)
- What is this sculpture made of? How can you tell? What does the material tell you about the kinds of technology the people of Benin had available to them? What else does the sculpture tell you about the people who made it?
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