Plaque (1500s–1600s): Art, History and Details

Plaque (1500s–1600s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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.

Object facts

• Title: Plaque
• Date: 1500s–1600s
• Culture: Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, Ẹdo peoples, members of the Igun Eronmwon (royal brasscasters) guild
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: Copper alloy
• Dimensions: Overall: 45.7 x 38.1 cm (18 x 15 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 1999.1

A detail from the museum

Look at the side of this plaque. The designs on the slender edges are considered visual "signatures" of the different casters who made plaques for the Oba of Benin.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Davidson, Ruth. 1963. "Paintings and Antiques: The New York Apartment of Edward A. Bragaline." Antiques 84, no. 5 (1963): 556-61, fig.6.
• Dark, Philip John Crosskey. 1982. An Illustrated Catalogue of Benin Art. Boston, Mass: G.K. Hall, no. 59.
• Gustafson, Eleanor H., "Museum Accessions," The Magazine Antiques (December 1999), 778

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.