Object History Note / Acquisition Notedescription, provenance, notes During the British expeditionto Benin City (Edo) in 1897 objects made of brass, bronze, ivory, coral, and wood were looted by British soldiers from the royal palace, its storerooms, and compounds. Some of these objects were sold or exchanged in West Africa. However, many were brought to the UK where they were retained by soldiers of the expeditionand subsequently inherited by thier families; put up for auction; or donated, lent, or sold to museums. See Collection File: Af1897,-.498-563.
Compare with Af1944,04.20~Plankensteiner 2007: A variety of brass keys are still used to lock palace rooms where valuable objects such as the king's regalia are stored. They are also employed to secure palace shrines, and especially those large quadrangles - only one of many still exists - more publicly accessible and that contain carved ivories, staffs, and cast brass objects. The key holder knocks three times on the large timbered door to ensure that the spirits of the deceased are awake, inserts the key and with a twist, lifts the hook off its latch. This releases the bolt that locked the door. The hooks operate in much the same way as the cast keys. Inserted at an angle, the hook key catches the slide and lifts it, the hooked part of the key holds the slide securely and ensures that the slide does not fall to the ground. Locks of a more conventional padlock type also existed. Insertion of a key into the side of the lock released a mechanism that held the padlock together. Made of brass, these padlocks often had designs of the king, chiefs, or other court dignitaries, and various animals making them decorative and symbolic at the same time. Some keys are fairly simple as in the iron hooked rod type, although these often have intriguing cast brass handles with agate inlay. Agate is the traditional bead of authority; only later was Mediterranean coral incorporated as beads of a king's or chief's rank. The equal arm cross is highly symbolic and represents, among other things, the crossroads or junction that serves as the point of connection between the natural and the spiritual worlds and the keys serve to open doors that link the living and the dead... Like the quatrefoil the brass trefoil of some keys [see Af1944,04.20] is symbolic: the numbers 3, 4, 7 and 14 are ritually significant in divination and in the calculation of ceremonies, and they are significant in different ways in many societies.
Exhibitions Loans and Displays - Current and Pastexhibition 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