Object History Note / Acquisition Notedescription, provenance, 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).
Physical descriptiondescription Relief plaque, lost-wax cast in brass. Wide plaque, rectangular in form with side flanges. Background surface decorated with river leaf patterns and stippling. Rosettes in top left and two bottom corners. Top right corner has front-facing head of European (Portuguese) with long hair and beard. Wears helmet with central boss and extremely tall feather. Three nail holes at top, two holes at bottom. Depicts single standing figure, facing forwards, possibly a high ranking warrior. Figure wears tall helmet with two feathers, leopard-head body armour with pendant strips terminating in bells, leopard's tooth necklace, quadrangular bell and wrap-around knee-length skirt. Holds eben sword aloft in right hand.
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 Expeditionroyal 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 ~Use of small struts to raise handle of eben from surface of plaque discussed by Gunsch in terms of dating (Gunsch pp.99-105). ~Read & Dalton 1899: Standing figure of a Nativewearing a high flat head-dress, rounded at the top, with a pleated border and a feather on each side. From beneath the head-dress issue short plaits resembling those in Af1898,0115.16, and long cords reaching to the thighs. He wears the bead collar, the necklace of leopards' teeth, and a jacket of leopard-skin, with chest-band and long fringes; from this hang a quadrangular bell and two tassels. His loin-cloth is of the usual kind, with the end carried up to the shoulder... The left hand grasps the sword, and the right a ceremonial knife... In the corner next this knife is the head of a long-haired and long-bearded European, seen in full face, and wearing a hat with a long feather. In each of the other three corners is a large rosette.