- Museum number
- Af1898,0115.35
- Title
- Series: Benin Plaques
- Description
-
Upper half of two-part double-sized relief plaque, lost- wax cast in brass. Almost square in form with side flanges (largely missing). Background surface decorated with encircled crosses and stippling. Mudfish, facing downwards, at top left. Three nail holes at top, one at bottom right. Depicts upper part of standing warrior figure carrying shield in left hand and bundle of arrows in right hand. Figure wears tall headgear, leopard skin garment with short-sleeved tunic below, leopard's tooth necklace and quadrangular bell with human face on front suspended from band across chest. Coil of plaited hair from bottom of headdress on left side.
- Production date
- 16thC-17thC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 39.90 centimetres
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Weight: 5.70 kilograms
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Width: 37.10 centimetres
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Depth: 4.20 centimetres
- Curator's comments
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The relief brass plaques that used to decorate the Oba's (king's) palace are among the most well-known of all the royal arts of Benin. Although frequently described as 'Benin Bronzes' most plaques are made of leaded brass in various compositions. It is widely accepted that they date to the 16th-17th centuries.
In the years prior to the British Expedition royal influence in Benin was increasingly under threat from rival powers, both internal and external, with a focus on economic power and control of the important trading monopolies. However, the court and palace remained the political and spiritual centre of the Benin Kingdom. Earlier accounts written by Europeans visiting the city describe its size and scale. The palace complex was set up around atrium courtyards; some had galleries with wooden pillars supporting the roof. Brass plaques, probably made in matching pairs, were fixed to these pillars.
The Benin brass plaques represent a distinct and unique corpus of work, unparalleled elsewhere on the continent. They are cast using the cire perdue (lost wax) technique and show significant variation in the depth of the relief. Some of the plaques portray historical events or commemorate successful wars, while others are a vivid depiction of Benin court life and ritual. Several groups of plaques show clear stylistic similarities. William B. Fagg suggested that these plaques represent the work of master brass casters.
Fagg, William, 1973, 'Nigerian Images', London: Lund Humphries
Gunsch, Kathryn, 2018, 'Benin plaques: a 16th century imperial monument', London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group
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William Fagg (1963) attributed these to the ‘Master of the Circled Cross’ referring to the distinctive encircled cross background decoration. Stylistically, these plaques are characterised by their low relief and elegant lines. The figures have fore-shortened arms and legs.
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This is the upper half of a double-sized Benin Warrior plaque (the lower half may correspond to a plaque in Berlin: III C 10879). According to Gunsch (2018) this was one in a small series of early experimental plaques created at this larger size.
Two complete double-sized plaques are known: BM Af1898,0115.35 and Berlin Ethnologisches Museum III C 10879 possibly form a Warrior pair. BM Af1898,0115.2 and Weltmuseum Wien 64.697 form a Portuguese pair.
Two halves of double sized plaques also known: Weltmuseum Wien 64.718 (upper half of Portuguese pair); Museum für Völkerkunde, Hamburg C.2.434 (upper half of Warrior pair), although this may be the corresponding top half of the Berlin Warrior plaque above .
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Read & Dalton 1899:
Figure of a native only represented to the waist. He wears a high gable-shaped head-dress and a sleeveless surcoat of leopard-skin, confined by a chest-band with two pendent straps, under which appear the short sleeves of a vest. Round the neck are necklaces of beads and teeth, as in the last figure, and on the breast is a small quadrangular bell with a human mask upon the front. Apparently he has worn a waist-cloth with extended end, the point of which appears above the shield. In the right hand are three barbed spears, and in the left an oval shield, differing in shape from those seen in Af1898,0115.21-22, but apparently of similar construction. A broad armlet covers the right wrist. In the top right-hand corner is a fish with the head downwards.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1970-1973, London, Museum of Mankind, Divine Kingship in Africa
- Condition
- Fair; top right corner missing; flanges at both sides largely missing. Entire bottom edge missing, also sections missing at right and left bottom sides.
- Acquisition date
- 1898
- Acquisition notes
- Following the British occupation of Benin City (Edo) in 1897 objects made of brass, ivory and wood were looted by British forces from the royal palace, its storerooms and compounds. Some of these objects were sold or exchanged on the coast. However, many were brought to the UK where they were sold through private auction, donated to museums, or retained by soldiers of the expedition.
The British Museum successfully petitioned the government to secure some of the relief plaques and over 300 were sent to the UK by the Consul-General [Sir] Ralph Moor and placed at the Foreign Office. During the summer of 1897 the Crown Agents for the Colonies, on behalf of the Foreign Office, agreed a temporary loan of 304 plaques to the British Museum. In September these were placed on public display in the Assyrian basement where they attracted considerable public attention. The Museum initially received 203 of these plaques as a gift from the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. In the summer of 1898 a further eleven plaques were sent to the British Museum from the Foreign Office and three of these were selected by the Museum and were subsequently presented as a gift. Of the remaining plaques the Foreign Office retained eight and the rest were offered for sale to major museums, collectors and private dealers in Europe and the UK. Today over nine hundred plaques are known to exist in museums and private collections around the world.
See Collection File: Af1898,0115.1-203 (previously Eth.Doc.185).
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Af1898,0115.35
- Additional IDs
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Previous owner/ex-collection number: 233 (Foreign Office number)