plaque (art)

Bronze plaque showing a human figure with a beaded headdress, indicating that it might depict an Oba. There are also three rosettes in relief on the plaque, and etched floral and dot decoration as the background. There are a number of perforated holes through the plaque.

Such plaques were made to decorate architectural elements of the Oba’s palace at Benin. They are thought to have commemorated events in the history of the Edo Kingdom. This fragment of a brass plaque appears to show an Oba with characteristic beaded headdress.

object
MUSEUM NUMBER
4392
Date
before 1897
PLACE
COLLECTION
MEASUREMENTS
overall: 505 x 316 x 74 mm
MATERIAL/TECHNIQUE
copper alloy
CATEGORY
Anthropology: Ethnography
LOCATION
On display: Horniman Museum > World Gallery > Africa > Nigeria - Benin
SHAREABLE LINK

Continue exploring anthropology

Featured

Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk