Plaque showing a warrior and attendants
Warrior and attendants plaque, brass relief sculpture by Edo artists in the court of the kingdom of Benin (now Nigeria), 16th–17th century; in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
metalwork
decorative arts
Also known as: metal processing
metalwork, useful and decorative objects fashioned of various metals, including copper, iron, silver, bronze, lead, gold, and brass. The earliest human-made objects were of stone, wood, bone, and earth. It was only later that humans learned to extract metals from the earth and to hammer them into objects. Metalwork includes vessels, utensils, ceremonial and ritualistic objects, decorative objects, architectural ornamentation, personal ornament, sculpture, and weapons. Many of the technical processes in use today are essentially...
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