{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "id": "an-emblem-and-an-absence",
  "title": "An emblem and an absence.",
  "question": "How can an image return while the object stays away?",
  "format": "Connection study",
  "period": "16th century / 1897 / 1977",
  "places": [
    "Benin City",
    "London",
    "Lagos"
  ],
  "themes": [
    "Public life",
    "Versions",
    "Response"
  ],
  "mediaKeys": [
    "idia-comparison"
  ],
  "next": [
    "a-workshop-travels",
    "an-image-made-of-feathers"
  ],
  "entities": [
    {
      "id": "bm-idia",
      "name": "British Museum pendant mask, Af1910,0513.1",
      "kind": "work",
      "date": "16th century",
      "sourceId": "bm-festac",
      "note": "The mask identified in the FESTAC account; not reproduced here."
    },
    {
      "id": "festac-emblem",
      "name": "Emokpae’s bronze replica / FESTAC emblem",
      "kind": "work",
      "date": "1977",
      "sourceId": "bm-festac",
      "note": "Identified in the British Museum account; no image license established here."
    },
    {
      "id": "bm-resin",
      "name": "British Museum resin cast CRS.50",
      "kind": "reproduction",
      "date": "June 1977",
      "sourceId": "bm-festac",
      "note": "Made after the festival; not the emblem used at FESTAC."
    },
    {
      "id": "met-idia-comparison",
      "name": "Met pendant mask of Ìyọ́bà Idià",
      "kind": "work",
      "date": "16th century",
      "sourceId": "met-idia",
      "note": "A separate comparison object, not the emblem’s source.",
      "mediaKey": "idia-comparison"
    }
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "id": "festac-selection",
      "text": "The British Museum identifies its pendant mask as the selected FESTAC ’77 emblem and describes Erhabor Emokpae’s bronze replica as the version used during the festival.",
      "kind": "response",
      "status": "documented",
      "evidence": [
        {
          "sourceId": "bm-festac",
          "locator": "Curator's comments, paragraphs on 1897, FESTAC and the June 1977 cast"
        }
      ],
      "limitation": "This account is from the holding institution. The similar Met mask shown for comparison is a different object.",
      "from": "bm-idia",
      "to": "festac-emblem"
    },
    {
      "id": "festac-cast",
      "text": "The British Museum’s resin cast CRS.50 was made in June 1977, after the festival, and was not requested by the Nigerian government according to the museum.",
      "kind": "catalogue-fact",
      "status": "documented",
      "evidence": [
        {
          "sourceId": "bm-festac",
          "locator": "Curator's comments, paragraphs on 1897, FESTAC and the June 1977 cast"
        }
      ],
      "limitation": "The cast must not be labeled as the festival emblem. The museum’s explanation of its refused loan is its own institutional account.",
      "from": "bm-idia",
      "to": "bm-resin"
    },
    {
      "id": "festac-comparison",
      "text": "The Met’s pendant mask is a separate work attributed to Ìgbèsànmwà guild artists of the Edo peoples.",
      "kind": "visual-comparison",
      "status": "editorial-observation",
      "evidence": [
        {
          "sourceId": "met-idia",
          "locator": "Object identification, maker attribution and catalogue commentary"
        },
        {
          "sourceId": "bm-festac",
          "locator": "Curator's comments, paragraphs on 1897, FESTAC and the June 1977 cast"
        }
      ],
      "limitation": "Its photograph provides a comparison only. It cannot establish the appearance or use of Emokpae’s replica.",
      "from": "met-idia-comparison",
      "to": "bm-idia"
    },
    {
      "id": "festac-archive",
      "kind": "reception",
      "status": "documented",
      "text": "Nigeria’s Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation dates its establishment to 1979 after FESTAC and describes itself as custodian of the festival’s core collections and archival materials.",
      "evidence": [
        {
          "sourceId": "cbaac-history",
          "locator": "About CBAAC, establishment and custodial-role paragraphs"
        }
      ],
      "limitation": "This is the Nigerian agency’s institutional history. It does not independently resolve the 1976 loan correspondence or every object’s custody."
    },
    {
      "id": "festac-counterpart-imagery",
      "text": "The Met interprets stylized mudfish and Portuguese merchants in the tiara and collar of its own pendant mask within Benin royal imagery.",
      "kind": "catalogue-fact",
      "status": "attributed",
      "evidence": [
        {
          "sourceId": "met-idia",
          "locator": "Opening commentary, paragraph on portrait, tiara and collar"
        }
      ],
      "limitation": "This commentary concerns the Met counterpart pictured here; it does not identify Emokpae’s replica or its exact iconographic details."
    }
  ],
  "treatment": {
    "kind": "emblem",
    "invitation": "Keep four identities apart: original, emblem, cast, comparison.",
    "stops": [
      {
        "id": "original",
        "label": "Source object",
        "title": "The mask named in the record",
        "text": "The original identified by the festival account is in the British Museum. Its removal in 1897 belongs to this history.",
        "claimIds": [
          "festac-selection"
        ],
        "entityId": "bm-idia"
      },
      {
        "id": "emblem",
        "label": "Festival",
        "title": "A version used in Lagos",
        "text": "The replica and the historical object have different roles. Following the image does not mean the original object traveled back.",
        "claimIds": [
          "festac-selection"
        ],
        "entityId": "festac-emblem"
      },
      {
        "id": "cast",
        "label": "Afterward",
        "title": "The tempting wrong substitute",
        "text": "The June 1977 resin cast is later than the festival. A similar form and nearby date are insufficient identification.",
        "claimIds": [
          "festac-cast"
        ],
        "entityId": "bm-resin"
      }
    ]
  },
  "reception": {
    "reach": "The British Museum documents use of the emblem at FESTAC; CBAAC supplies a Nigerian account of the festival’s continuing archive.",
    "response": "The loan refusal explanation remains one party’s account; CBAAC’s self-history does not replace the missing correspondence.",
    "consequence": "CBAAC links its 1979 establishment to the festival. This is an institutional legacy of FESTAC, not a claim that the mask alone caused it."
  },
  "sections": [
    {
      "id": "return",
      "title": "A face can stand for a gathering while the object remains away.",
      "voice": "Historical account",
      "paragraphs": [
        "The British Museum’s record places the festival in Lagos from 15 January to 12 February 1977. It identifies the selected mask, a Nigerian loan request and the replica used as emblem. Its conservation explanation for refusing the loan is one institution’s account; it does not replace the full Nigerian correspondence.",
        "The Met mask pictured here is its counterpart, not the FESTAC source object. Its own record reads the small Portuguese heads and mudfish around the face as part of royal imagery. Look at the border as a set of figures with meanings in a courtly setting before reading the whole face as a modern emblem."
      ],
      "claimIds": [
        "festac-selection",
        "festac-comparison",
        "festac-counterpart-imagery"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "cast",
      "title": "The festival leaves more than one kind of afterlife.",
      "voice": "Open question",
      "paragraphs": [
        "The June 1977 resin cast comes after the festival, so it cannot be substituted for the replica used in Lagos. A separate institutional legacy continues in Nigeria: CBAAC dates its establishment to 1979 after FESTAC and identifies itself as custodian of the festival’s core materials. That is a Nigerian archival route beyond the British Museum’s loan narrative."
      ],
      "claimIds": [
        "festac-cast",
        "festac-archive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "edition": "pilot",
  "version": "an-emblem-and-an-absence.2",
  "route": "/afterlives/an-emblem-and-an-absence",
  "primaryClaimId": "festac-selection",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "cbaac-history",
      "title": "About CBAAC",
      "author": "Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation, Nigeria",
      "url": "https://cbaac.gov.ng/about/",
      "kind": "institutional-account",
      "locator": "About CBAAC: establishment in 1979 and custody of FESTAC materials",
      "supports": "The Nigerian agency’s stated origin after FESTAC and role as custodian of its core collections and archival materials.",
      "limitation": "A present institutional history, not the complete festival or loan archive; the scripted page response was empty, so the text was checked through the indexed official page.",
      "language": "en",
      "checked": "2026-10-17",
      "verification": {
        "checked": "2026-10-17",
        "method": "indexed-text",
        "note": "Relevant indexed primary-source text checked. Direct scripted access was blocked, empty or incomplete; this is not recorded as a successful full-page retrieval."
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "bm-festac",
      "title": "Cast of pendant-mask, CRS.50",
      "author": "British Museum",
      "url": "https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_CRS-50",
      "kind": "object-record",
      "locator": "Curator's comments, paragraphs on 1897, FESTAC and the June 1977 cast",
      "supports": "The British Museum mask's selection as FESTAC emblem; the museum's account of the refused loan; a later resin cast and Emokpae's bronze replica.",
      "limitation": "The loan explanation is the holding institution's account. CRS.50 was made after the festival and was not the emblem used there.",
      "language": "en",
      "checked": "2026-10-17",
      "verification": {
        "checked": "2026-10-17",
        "method": "indexed-text",
        "note": "Relevant indexed primary-source text checked. Direct scripted access was blocked, empty or incomplete; this is not recorded as a successful full-page retrieval."
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "met-idia",
      "title": "Pendant mask of Ìyọ́bà Idià, 1978.412.323",
      "author": "The Metropolitan Museum of Art",
      "url": "https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/318622",
      "kind": "object-record",
      "locator": "Object identification, maker attribution and catalogue commentary",
      "supports": "The Met's separate pendant mask; attributed to Ìgbèsànmwà guild artists of the Edo peoples.",
      "limitation": "This is not the British Museum mask selected for FESTAC. An image of it must never silently substitute for the emblem's source.",
      "language": "en",
      "checked": "2026-10-17",
      "verification": {
        "checked": "2026-10-17",
        "method": "source-text",
        "note": "Relevant institutional record text checked through the research browser; direct scripted requests were rate-limited."
      }
    }
  ],
  "review": {
    "checked": "2026-10-17",
    "research": "source-checked",
    "independent": "pending",
    "assistance": "Source verification and prose revised with AI assistance. Independent specialist review remains pending.",
    "editorial": {
      "checked": "2026-10-17",
      "method": "AI-assisted source and prose review",
      "focus": "An emblem, an absent original, a later cast and an archive have different histories.",
      "changes": [
        "Checked festival dates and the June cast; retained the holding institution’s perspective on the refused loan.",
        "Kept the Met counterpart visibly distinct and added its own source-attributed iconographic context.",
        "Added CBAAC’s Nigerian account of the festival’s institutional and archival legacy."
      ]
    }
  },
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "an-emblem-and-an-absence.1",
      "date": "2026-10-17",
      "note": "First source-checked review edition. Historical claims and original readings are distinguished; image permissions are recorded separately."
    },
    {
      "version": "an-emblem-and-an-absence.2",
      "date": "2026-10-17",
      "note": "Checked festival dates and the June cast; retained the holding institution’s perspective on the refused loan. Kept the Met counterpart visibly distinct and added its own source-attributed iconographic context. Added CBAAC’s Nigerian account of the festival’s institutional and archival legacy."
    }
  ],
  "summary": "The British Museum identifies its pendant mask as the selected FESTAC ’77 emblem and describes Erhabor Emokpae’s bronze replica as the version used during the festival.",
  "canonical": "https://artologium.com/afterlives/an-emblem-and-an-absence",
  "releaseStatus": "Local review edition; editorially revised with AI assistance; independent specialist review pending",
  "socialPreview": "Canonical investigation card. Selected passage is preserved in the URL and export, not pictured in the card.",
  "media": [
    {
      "key": "idia-comparison",
      "title": "Pendant mask of Ìyọ́bà Idià",
      "creator": "Ìgbèsànmwà (ivory- and wood- carving guild) artists",
      "date": "16th century",
      "institution": "The Metropolitan Museum of Art",
      "accession": "1978.412.323",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/318622",
      "sourceImage": "https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ao/original/DP231460.jpg",
      "license": "CC0",
      "licenseUrl": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/",
      "rightsSource": "https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/policies-and-documents/open-access",
      "creditLine": "The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1972",
      "alt": "An ivory pendant mask with a finely carved face and an elaborate border; the Met example, not the British Museum FESTAC source.",
      "rightsStatus": "open",
      "changes": "Resized and JPEG compressed; complete source image preserved in the viewer. No recoloring or reconstruction.",
      "src": "/images/research/idia-comparison.jpg",
      "width": 1038,
      "height": 1400,
      "sha256": "af8600c488f6c694692014d1ff45fe38da74669a536b08fc71f26a400859e9b3",
      "sourceSha256": "a32719c8a26c28c27d5052e3e54e73e595066252bcba64b3c3612c84cb45381d",
      "retrieved": "2026-10-18T01:01:28.067Z",
      "displayVariants": [
        {
          "src": "/images/research/idia-comparison-320.jpg",
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      "displayCrop": null
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}