Physical description/0description Catalogue card notes: "A plaque in bold relief: a man standing against a diapered (punched) background. He wears a leather kilt, a plain round helmet, waist belt, neck rings, bangles etc. A horn is slung by a strap over the right shoulder, and the left hand grasps a dumb bell-like object."
d_Description Namedescription Bronze plaque in high relief with a warrior.
Labels - Markings/0inscriptions The number '6244' has been written on the object.
16th century; 1550 - 1610
Africa; West Africa; Nigeria; South Nigeria; Kingdom of Benin; Benin City; King's Compound
Benin Expedition[collector]; Webster, William Downing [vendor]; Jenkinson, Francis John Henry [monetary donor]
Amendments - updates/0notes Purchased from W. D. Webster in 1900 with money donated to the Museum's Accession Fund by Francis John Henry Jenkinson (1853-1923), University Librarian from 1889.
Register gives the provenance as 'King's Compound, Benin City, 189-'.
Amendments - updates/1notes Object numbered E 1900.98 but display label wrongly reads "E 1900.8" R.Hand 7/6/2001'.
['E 1900.8 is in fact a model house from Kenya. R. vd. Velden, 19/12/2016.']
Amendments - updates/2notes Amendments - updates/3notes Amendments - updates/4notes Reference Numbersbibliography E 1900.98.1
MAA: AR 1901.495
Other: 6244 [Webster Sale No.]
Catalogue card reads "see Read and Dalton, Works of Art from Benin City,"
References/0 2bibliography Photographed as part of the Art UK Sculpture project, August - September 2019. The project aims to create a free-to-access online photographic showcase of publicly owned sculpture. The three-year project focuses on sculpture dating from the last 1,000 years, held in public collections and outdoor locations across the UK
Catalogue of MAA's Centenary Exhibition Ebin, V. and Swallow, D. A. (1984). The Proper Study of Mankind: Great Anthropological Collections in Cambridge. Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Related Documents/0bibliography Accession Register reads: "B. Webster (Jenkinson) £15:15:0 See Webster Cat. No's 21. See Read and Dalton, Works of Art from Benin City, Journal of Anthropological Institute Vol. xxvii (1898) p.362"
Related Documents/1bibliography Replacement catalogue card reads, in blue biro (date unknown, possibly 1980s): "1900 E. 98 (1) | AFRICA | [SOUTHERN struck through] / WEST AFRICA / NIGERIA / A PLAQUE in bold relief: a man standing against a diapered (punched) background. He wears a leather kilt, a plain round helmet, waist belt, neck rings, bangles etc. A horn is slung by a strap over the right shoulder, and the left hand grasps a dumb bell-like object. size 19" x 6"5 / King's Compound. Benin City / (see Read & Dalton Works of Art from Benin City) / F.J.H. Jenkinson M.A. | R1901 495"
In second hand, black ink: "(Centenary Exhibition)"
Red circular sticker on bottom right of card.
In January 2017, Prof. Marcos Martinon-Torres and Agnese Benzonelli, UCL Institute of Archaeology, tested this item using a portable XRF as part of a programme of base metal analysis of Benin material. This object was tested twice and the results are as follows: 1) Cu: 83.93%; Zn: 11.41%; Sn: 1.87%; Pb: 1.90%. 2) Cu: 84.39%; Zn: 10.57%; Sn: 2.00%; Pb: 2.19.
It was noted that most plaques are thought to be cast 1550-1610 and that this one has relatively low Pb reading.
Purchased from William Downing Webster, a dealer in ethnography, with money donated to the Museum Accession Fund by Francis John Henry Jenkinson (1853-1923), University of Cambridge Librarian (1889-1923).
Webster, W.D. (1899). Illustrated Catalogue of Ethnological Specimens. European and Eastern Arms and Armour. Prehistoric and Other Curiosities, Vol. 3, No. 21.
Illustrated in unnumbered plate, figures 127-132. No. 21. Africa. 129. (6244). Bronze plaque with figure, 19-3/4 inches high, 6-3/4 inches broad. (Benin City) ?15.15.0.
Exhibited: On Display in Maudslay Gallery, CUMAA, from 1989.
Part of MAA's Centenary Exhibition, held in the Adeane gallery, at the Fitzwilliam Museum, 12 March- 6 May 1984, and the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts, Norwich, 2 July- 16 September 1984.
Collected on the 1897 Punitive Expedition
Found_together - assemblage