‘Ai yẹ ivie rue ewmin oya’ (You can’t wear Ivie if you are dishonourable)

Ivie are coral beads which today anyone can wear as a decorative body ornament. However, in the past only the Ọba could wear them, along with those he bestowed them upon, such as chiefs and members of the royal court. The Ọba has the exclusive right of granting any deserving citizen the honour of his beads. Even today there are special shapes that can only be worn by the Ọba and chiefs, such as flat circular-shaped beads called Ikele.

In English, the term bead is used to describe both Ivie and 

. These beads may have once been part of necklaces, crowns or other regalia worn and used by the Ọba, his wives, and other high-ranking dignitaries. It is not known whether such beads were once part of other objects and were separated after being looted in 1897, or whether they were single beads at the time and part of the loot. The red colour of these beads symbolises ‘power, blood and danger’ (Curnow in Plankensteiner 2007, p.380

) and is innately tied to the Ọba. These beads also speak to the wide-ranging trade networks that Benin Kingdom has been part of over time. Agate and jasper were imports from northern Africa via trans-Saharan networks, and it is thought that the Portuguese imported coral from the Mediterranean from the fifteenth century onwards.

Ivie

Beads such as these may have once been part of necklaces, crowns or other regalia worn and used by the Ọba, his wives, and other high-ranking dignitaries. Two kinds of beads, known as Ivie and Ekan in Edo, have been identified by the Digital Benin team.

It is not known whether such beads were separated from other objects after being in 1897, or whether they were single beads at the time and part of the loot. The red colour of these beads symbolises ‘power, blood and danger’ (Curnow in Plankensteiner 2007, p.380

) and is innately tied to the Ọba. These beads also speak to the wide-ranging trade networks that Benin Kingdom has been part of over time. Agate and jasper were imported from northern Africa via trans-Saharan networks, and it is thought that the Portuguese imported coral from the Mediterranean from the fifteenth century onwards.

Bead

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

More info

Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London

Museum

Donor

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British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin, February 1897

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