Benin Plaques

• While it existed, the Benin Empire was an economic and political power.
• The colonialists were so sure of their moral right to rule others that they often did not notice, or did not hesitate to destroy, evidence that those whom they thought “primitive” had many skills and technologies of their own.
• Benin grew increasingly rich during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries on the slave trade with Europe; slaves from enemy states of the interior were sold, and carried to the Americas in Dutch and Portuguese ships. The Bight of Benin’s shore soon came to be known as the “Slave Coast.”
• The empire was ruled by a regent called the Oba. Today, the Oba of Benin is still very respected in Nigeria; he is the most revered traditional ruler in Nigeria though his powers are largely ceremonial and religious. The capital of the Benin Empire was Edo, now known as Benin City in what is now south-western Nigeria.
• • Relief plaque, lost-wax cast in brass.
  • Wide plaque, rectangular in form with side flanges.
  • Background surface decorated with river leaf patterns and stippling. Two European (Portuguese) figures, heads and torsos in profile, at top.
  • Both have long hair, helmets with three bosses and feathers, and wear long-sleeved tunics.
  • Figure on left holds manilla, figure on right holds unidentified object to mouth. Nail hole at top centre and two holes at bottom left and right.
• • Depicts seated Oba, facing front, flanked by two kneeling supporters, enobore, facing inwards.
  • Holds hammer in right hand. Oba wears cylindrical beaded crown with oro protrusion and three ornamental beads, deep beaded collar, beaded tunic, waist pendants in form of human heads and patterned skirt.
  • Attendants similarly dressed: deep beaded collars, cylindrical headdresses with oro protrusion, long beaded tunics, waist pendants in form of crocodile heads and patterned skirts.
• Lost wax process


  method of metal casting in which a molten metal is poured into a mold that has been created by means of a wax model. Once the mold is made, the wax model is melted and drained away.
• Formal elements:


  • Brass qualities - expensive
  • Exaggerated scale, disproportionate
  • Coral necklaces worn by those who had won the Oba's favour
  • Copper used from Portugal - links to European trading within this period
  • Leopards at the door display Oba's power
• More formal elements:


  • Python on roof - king of the snakes
  • River leaf motif - Olokun symbol
  • Mini plaques
  • High bold relief
  • Low relief details
  • Sense of symmetricality
• Critical quotes:


  Ruskin "made in the spirit of the community and faith, by anonymous craftsmen"

  B. Philips "the Benin Bronzes have become highly charged symbols of injustice"
• Static confident pose - links to authority and status of the Oba

  Polished - highly polished and shiny signifies Oba's importance and wealth

  Part at the top missing - indicates the Benin empires treatment from the Colonialists

  Durable
• Stolen by the British - Admiral Sir Harry Rawson - punitive expedition 1899

  Benin Empire - a pre colonial state of Modern Nigeria (1440-1897)

  Influence of Primitivism?