- Museum number
- Af1898,0115.34
- Title
- Series: Benin Plaques
- Description
-
Relief plaque, lost-wax cast in brass. Wide plaque, rectangular in form with side flanges (partially missing). Background surface decorated with circled crosses and stippling. One partial nail hole at top right. One hole at centre right. One nail head at centre left next to Oba. One partial nail head at bottom left below Oba and enobore feet. Depicts standing Oba, facing front, flanked by two standing supporters, enobore, also facing front. Oba wears cylindrical beaded crown with oro protrusion, beaded necklaces, protective king's bead on chest, long-sleeed beaded tunic and patterned skirt. Supporters similarly dressed: cylindrical headdress with oro protrusion, beaded necklaces, long-sleeved beaded tunic, patterned skirt. Enobore support the arms of the Oba.
- Production date
- 16thC-17thC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 42 centimetres
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Weight: 5.90 kilograms
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Width: 37 centimetres
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Depth: 3.50 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
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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Part of Processional Pillar Set 1. Row 2A. Oba with enobore (Gunsch, 2018).
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Plankensteiner 2007:
Pyramidal structures of authority reflect Edo values, and the most salient royal image in the Benin art is the triad, which depicts the Oba flanked by two assistants called Enobore. This hierarchical composition is recreated whenever the Oba walks in public with a supporter on either side, and its significance is eloquent and multileveled. One deceptively simple level concerns the obligations of citizenship set forth by Oba Ewuare the Great (c.1444-1473). Stories recount that when Ewuare had reorganized Benin's capital city, he adopted the coral regalia of the god Olokun as his own. However, when he wore Olokun's beaded garments, he discovered the enormous weight of his crown, which symbolizes the burdens of divine kingship. He then asked the Edo people to help him carry the heavy crown. On this level, the triad represents the responsibility of the populace to assist the Oba in governing the Benin kingdom (Blackmun 1984: 275-276).
On a deeper level, the triad is a warning of the Oba's access to unearthly resources not available to ordinary mortals. Three is an uncanny number and is never used lightly. Moreover when the bronze images are polished, their red colour and reflective surfaces enhanced their otherworldly aspect. At least four other reliefs represent the seated Oba and kneeling attendants, similar to this one. In most Benin triads, however, each figure is frontal and standing. There is also a version with two kneeling attendants, in which the artists have depicted the Oba's legs as mysterious fishlike appendages, and leopards lie down before him.
The seated Oba triad is among a set of bronzes that can be separated from the majority of Benin's relief’s. During the 16th and early 17th century, many workshops were employed in creating hundreds of bronzes, resulting in style variations that usually follow an accepted norm. In contrast, the shape of the crown and helmets within this set is cylindrical. There are also unusual finials on the oro protrusions that spring from the flattened upper surfaces of these cylinders. The beaded garments are represented as lightly textured surfaces, and distinctive patterns enhance the straight skirts.
Within this set of triads with cylindrical crown characteristics, there are bronzes produced by another contrasting group of artists. In their work, the figures are not as sturdy as in the reliefs discussed above. They are slender and svelte, with small heads, as is the standing triad illustrated here. This slender style is further differentiated by the use of circles incised with crosses in the background, instead of the usual pattern of leaves. William Fagg has suggested that circle-cross backgrounds identify the earliest reliefs (1963a: 34), and he may have been correct. Nevertheless, it might be possible to locate details that will place these innovative artists elsewhere in Benin's art history.
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Read & Dalton 1899:
A king with two attendants standing. He is dressed much as in Af1898,0115.29 and 26, and his arms are supported in a similar manner. The background is diapered, as in the two preceding figures, and Af1898,0115.31. One of the original bronze nails remains, and the head is covered with punched dots to match the background. Although the style of these four panels is more severe than that of the majority, they do not appear to be executed with the same realism in matters of detail.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1970-1973, London, Museum of Mankind, Divine Kingship in Africa
2007 May-Sept, Vienna, Museum für Völkerkunde, Benin. Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria
2007-2008 Oct-Jan, Paris, Musée du quai Branly, Benin. Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria
2008 Feb-May, Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum, Benin. Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria
2008 Jun-Sept, Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Benin. Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria
- Condition
- Fair; missing sections along entire top and top of right and left sides. Missing section bottom left corner. Missing section flange at bottom left side and missing corner.
- Associated events
- Associated Event: British Expedition to Benin City Feb 1897
- 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
- Af1898,0115.34
- Additional IDs
-
Previous owner/ex-collection number: 239 (Foreign Office number)