1999.1

160767

Plaque

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

Nearly 900 metal plaques once adorned the Ọba’s palace courtyard, documenting Benin’s history and customs. This one depicts two male attendants (enobore) 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.

0.457

0.381

Overall: 45.7 x 38.1 cm (18 x 15 in.)

Sculpture

1500s-1600s

1500

1699

Copper alloy

John L. Severance Fund

possibly 1500s-1600s.

Commissioned from the Igun Eronmwon

by descent to Ọba Ovọnramwẹn (Ovọnramwẹn Nogbaisi, [c. 1857–1914; r. 1888–97], Royal Palace, Benin City

1897

sent to England by Sir Ralph Moor following the Siege of Benin (1897)

to the British Museum by gift from Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

1897-1950

British Museum, London, until 1950 as no. 98/1-5/43

1950-by at least 1963

(Sydney Burney, London, as sales agent for the British Museum, 1950, sold to Kent-Bragaline, Inc.; Edward A. Bragaline, New York City, NY)

Edward A. Bragaline, New York City, NY, sold to private collectors

1999

(Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York City, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)

1999-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, Ẹdo peoples, members of the Igun Eronmwon (royal brasscasters) guild

African Art

108A Sub-Saharan

African Art

Contemporary Landscape Photography. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 26-August 14, 2011).

199873

2011-03-26T00:00:00

Contemporary Landscape Photography

Museum">archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Museum+of+American+Folk+Art%22">Museum of American Folk Art. Twentieth Century Masters from the Bragaline Collection for the Benefit of the Museum of Early American Folk Arts. New York: M. Knoedler, 1963

Reproduced: p. 102, fig. 48

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.

Gunsch, Kathryn Wysocki. The Benin Plaques: A 16th Century Imperial Monument. London : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018.

Mentioned: p. 152; reproduced: p. 162, fig. 2A

CC0

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900

752

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