Cleveland Museum of ArtThe data was downloaded via a public data access of the institution.
Last Updated: 2021-02-13
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Plaque, 1500s-1600s. Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, Ẹdo peoples, members of the Igun Eronmwon (royal brasscasters) guild. Copper alloy; overall: 45.7 x 38.1 cm (18 x 15 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1999.1
wall_descriptiondescription Nearly 900 metal plaques once adorned the Ọba’s palace courtyard, documenting Benin’s history and customs. This one depicts two male attendants (<em>enobore</em>) supporting an Ọba. It uses hierarchical composition: important figures are large and centered. Everything about the Ọba is greater than his companions: their bodies, clothing, and jewelry. The flanking attendants physically support a man weighed down by heavy royal garments and responsibilities. Brasscasters skillfully cast their clasping hands projecting from the plaque. The bottom left number means the British Museum formerly owned this. It entered their collection in 1898, one year after British troops took it from a palace storeroom during the Siege of Benin.
Overall: 45.7 x 38.1 cm (18 x 15 in.)
provenance/0/descriptionprovenance Commissioned from the Igun Eronmwon
provenance/1/descriptionprovenance by descent to Ọba Ovọnramwẹn (Ovọnramwẹn Nogbaisi, [c. 1857–1914; r. 1888–97], Royal Palace, Benin City
provenance/2/descriptionprovenance sent to England by Sir Ralph Moor following the Siege of Benin (1897)
provenance/3/descriptionprovenance to the British Museum by gift from Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
provenance/4/descriptionprovenance British Museum, London, until 1950 as no. 98/1-5/43
provenance/5/descriptionprovenance (Sydney Burney, London, as sales agent
for the British Museum, 1950, sold to Kent-Bragaline, Inc.; Edward A. Bragaline, New York City, NY)
provenance/6/descriptionprovenance Edward A. Bragaline, New York City, NY, sold to private collectors
provenance/7/descriptionprovenance (Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York City, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
provenance/8/descriptionprovenance The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, Ẹdo peoples, members of the Igun Eronmwon (royal brasscasters) guild
exhibitions/current/0/descriptionexhibition history <i>Contemporary Landscape Photography</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 26-August 14, 2011).
citations/0/citationbibliography <a href="https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Museum+of+American+Folk+Art%22">Museum of American Folk Art</a>. <em>Twentieth Century Masters from the Bragaline Collection for the Benefit of the Museum of Early American Folk Arts</em>. New York: M. Knoedler, 1963
citations/0/page_numberbibliography Reproduced: p. 102, fig. 48
citations/0/urlbibliography https://archive.org/details/twentiethcentury00mkno/page/n101/mode/2up
citations/1/citationbibliography Cleveland Museum of Art, “Major Benin Bronze Plaque, Rembrandt Print, Other Works of Art Enter CMA Collection,” March 12, 1999, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
citations/1/urlbibliography https://archive.org/details/cmapr4240
citations/2/citationbibliography Gunsch, Kathryn Wysocki. <em>The Benin Plaques: A 16th Century Imperial Monument. </em>London : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018.
citations/2/page_numberbibliography Mentioned: p. 152; reproduced: p. 162, fig. 2A
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former_accession_numbers/0 former_accession_numbers/1 2020-11-10 10:00:33.658000