Bronze Plaque (re-cast from an original)
20th century. Bronze. Nigeria (Edo)
Image courtesy of the Savannah African Art Museum.
The Edo of the Benin Kingdom are a case study of culture and continuity.
The Kingdom of Benin’s history begins as early as 900 C.E. with the first Oba (king) ascending to the throne in 1200 C.E. One way that Obas distinguish themselves from their subjects is through bronze casting and their control of the process. The creation of plaques and busts provided a chronology of kingship and major events. The court of the Oba cordially received European traders as early as 1485, but this relationship would disintegrate during the escalation of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. After the Berlin Conference in 1885, much of Africa was partitioned by European powers resulting in arbitrary borders. In 1897, a British punitive expedition destroyed Benin City and looted the royal palace of its bronzes and works in ivory. The deposed Oba Ovonramwen was put in exile in Calabar until his death in 1914. The looted objects were removed from Benin City and incorporated into several European collections, including the British Museum.
After the restoration of the monarchy in 1914, historians from the City of Benin, such as Jacob Uwadiae Egharevba, worked toward reconstructing the capital city. Although the kingdom underwent so much loss at the hands of European powers, the kingdom would witness the coronation of Oba Ewuare in 2016, highlighting the continuity of Edo culture in the Kingdom of Benin to this day.
Bibliography:
Plankensteiner, B. (2007). Benin kings and rituals: Court arts from Nigeria. Ghent, Belgium: Snoeck.
By Maxime Mballa-Tagny.