Brass plaque, unknown maker, Kingdom of Benin early seventeenth century. Of a style and type universally known as the Benin Bronzes. Two pieces, each piece has a man in a wrap skirt with a helmet and rings covering their mouths, one is holding a ball and the other is holding a musical instrument, stylized flower pattern background. The plaque represents two attendants wearing the typical court dress of classical Benin. The figure holding the musical instrument is a doulbe gong signifying the pleasure of the Oba or King, c.1601-1650
This item is in two pieces as it was damaged during the bombing of the Hull Municipal Museum on Albion Street in 1943, during World War 2.
The Hull Benin Bronze was donated in the 20th century, prior to World War 2. However, we have no detailed documentation as many of our records were destroyed during bombing of Hull during that war, and which also damaged this item.
Full text as appears in Hull Bulletin No. 2 :-
" The ethnological collections of Hull Museums were unfortunately all lost by enemy action during the War. Or so at least it was thought until recently. Mr. Brian Latham, Keeper of Geology and Natural History, has been engaged in sorting and cataloguing geological material removed from the ruins of the Albion Street Museum and in the process has come across the two fragments of a Benin bronze plaque, figured below. Photographs of this unusual casting have been submitted to Mr. B. Fagg of the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, who has identified the plaque as probably made at Benin, Nigeria, between 1550 and 1650 AD. The figures represent two attendants, both of them wearing the typical court dress of classical Benin. The figure on the right is playing on a double gong, an instrument that was struck to signify the pleasure of the Oba or King. It is certainly heartening to know that objects of this quality may still be retrieved from the unsorted wartime debris. The plaque will be placed on show in Wilberforce House. The dimensions are: 18 x 13 inches. "