Akhẹ is the general term for all earthenware pots. Pottery is one of the oldest traditional crafts practised in Benin, and Akhẹ continue to be made and used today in Benin City. Potters were, and continue to be, known as Imakhe, and they are often women.

Akhẹ had a variety of purposes in Benin Kingdom, and the amount and type of decoration indicate what they may have been used for in the past. For example, simply decorated globular pots identified as Akhẹ-Amẹ likely would have been used to store water. Meanwhile, pots decorated with snakes, frogs and small representations of people are considered Akhẹ-Osun (Osun pots) and would have been used by ritual experts who were associated with the deity of medicine, Osun. Those whose function cannot be identified have been grouped here under the general term Akhẹ.

Akhẹ

A large number of fragments of objects are known from collections associated with the Kingdom of Benin. Some of these objects may have been broken before 1897 and looted in this fragmentary state. The fact that such objects were also seized in 1897 indicates the extent to which looting took place, extending beyond the largest, most intricate pieces, to virtually anything and everything. Others may have been broken during the military campaign and fire, and some in the years after, as objects moved between museums and owners. Some fragments of the same objects are known in different collections, and it is hoped by placing them together here, more examples might be found.

Fragment

Pots had a variety of purposes in Benin Kingdom, and the amount and kind of decoration indicates what they may have been used for. Simply decorated globular pots likely would have been used to store water; they are identified as Akhẹ-Amẹ. Pots decorated with snakes, frogs and small representations of people are considered as Akhẹ-Osun, or Osun pots, and would have been used by ritual experts who were associated with Osun, the deity of medicine. Those whose function could not be identified have been grouped here under the general term Akhẹ.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The British Museum’s archives are held in various locations across the institution. The items listed here aim to give an overview of the main locations where relevant archival and photographic material relating to objects from the Kingdom of Benin is housed. Key areas relevant for cultural objects from the Kingdom of Benin are: Corporate Archives; Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas archives; Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory archives; and the Anthropology Library and Research Centre.

Website

Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas 

Online Catalogue

Library & Archive

British Museum

Internal Data (eng)

Wikidata Link

Braunholtz, Hermann Justus

Curator

Collector

British Museum link

Wilson, Donald H. F.

Suggestion: The word juju in itself is not harmful in as much as it refers to the belief system. It can be used in a harmful or derogatory way and is context dependent. Please assess the context of this word as a user of the platform.

 more about the background of this statement here.

juju 

Suggestion: Replace with, “a person of short stature,” “little person” or "someone with dwarfism". (See 

Read more about the background of this statement here.

dwarf

Suggestion: Replace with First Nations, First people, or particular community name. (See 

aboriginal

Suggestion: Replace with the name of the particular community and delete where it is used to reference an already identified group, e.g Igbo ~~tribe.~~

tribe

This word was redacted from the catalogue as a derogatory racialised word.

DB_redacted_word

Suggestion: Be as specific as possible in terms of country, population etc. (See 

non-western

western-art

western museum

tribal

hofzwerg

For more information on this term and its violent and inherently harmful context to indigenous communities, see 

British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin, February 1897

expedition

exotic

negro

Suggestion: Replace with the word Africa.

Black Africa

Warning: This word is used in a historic context of a title for a book, exhibition, institution name or book description etc. We recognise the potential for the material to cause physical and mental distress as well as evoke strong emotions. The material within the catalogue does not represent Digital Benin’s views. Digital Benin maintains a strong anti-colonial, anti-racist position and affirms its support for centring the humanity of historically marginalised and disenfranchised communities.

Read more about the background of this statement here

primitive

Suggestion: Replace with traditional healer, spiritual healer, or specific name that particular communities use to define this role. (See 

medicine man

Suggestion: Replace in cases where it used to describe human beings, with the term indigenous communities, first people or particular community name.