Temporary Register,1861-1921; no individual description. See correspondence in Collection File: Af1898, 0630.~Note from EPS Roupell (3 June 1898): "Overami's stool. This is the stool used by him since he came to the throne some 9 years ago. It was carried in by an attendant when he came in to submit & also at his trial." ~Read & Dalton 1899: Stool of brown wood on four legs connected by shaped rails, all carved in relief. On the top the king stands dressed in a shirt, cap and anklets, all apparently made of coral beads; in his right hand he holds a dagger, in his left a bifid object; an attendant on his left holds an umbrella over him, and on his right hand is a European in a boat holding up a chain and a cutlass; the field is filled with figures of snakes, a crocodile, barrels, cannon, etc. On the four legs are (1.) a chief holding up a dagger and an elephant's head; below, a fish; (2.) a man in profile with spear and curved sword; below, a European with cutlass, hooked staff and drinking glass; (3.) a chief standing, holding a spear and curved dagger; below, a leopard; (4.) a European standing with cutlass and walking stick; below, a leopard; this last subject is upside down. The circular panels on the rails have had trade mirrors set in them and three still remain. This stool is said to have belonged to Overami, the late King of Benin.~Plankensteiner 2007 This chair hails from the collection of Ernest Roupell, who took part in the Punitive Expeditionof 1897 and was later a district administrator in Benin. According to the British Museum’s inventory, this object was in the possession of the last king, ‘Overami’. According to Roupell, the attendants of the Oba always carried it with them, and Oba Ovonramwen was sitting on it when he was sentenced to exile in September 1898. In Benin, three types of stools were in use: the barrel-shaped ekete, nowadays covered with white fabric, on which the king sits during all public ceremonies; the erhe or round bronze or wooden stool (Hess 1983). Interestingly, the rectangular type is considered in Benin to be the oldest form of throne, supposedly introduced by the second Ogiso ruler Ere. This type of chair is particular, however-consisting of several parts joined together by tenons- appears to have been fashioned after European models. The chair displayed here consists of nine interlocking parts, all richly carved with ornaments and figurative scenes. In the centre of the scene, on the seat, stands a king in his ceremonial coral attire, with upraised eben sword and a Y-shaped object, the ends of which are formed from two hands. Standing to his right and shielding him with a parasol is a dignitary with the characteristic uguakpata hairstyle, still common today (see Aisien 2001). Near the king on the left is a European standing in a boat depicted with upraised sabre, and wearing a suit and hat. On the outside of the boat, below it and above the king on the right, barrels are portrayed – presumably the sort in which palm oil, an important commodity in the 19th century, was traded. Furthermore, various vessels, a stemmed glass, and animals are associated with the god of sea- crocodiles and snakes – can be seen. Three dignitaries and a European are depicted on the four legs of the stool.
Exhibitions Loans and Displays - Current and Pastexhibition history Exhibited: 1970-1973, London, Museum of Mankind, Divine Kingship in Africa 1993-1997, London, Museum of Mankind, Great Benin: a West African Kingdom 2007-2008 Apr-Oct, Bristol, Empire and Commonwealth Museum, Slavery, Abolition and the Making of Modern Britain 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 2014 Jun-Sep, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, The Extraordinary in the Ordinary: Chairs for Viewing the World Through Time