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Source Description

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

Scholar Source Context

Document identity
localId
160767
label
Plaque
core
obj
dtoType
sculpture
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
160767
contentType
sculpture
title
Plaque
description
Nearly 900 metal plaques once adorned the Ọba’s palace courtyard, documenting Benin’s history and customs. This one depicts two male attendants (<em>enobore</em>) 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.
date
1500s–1600s
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60745713
genreSpecific
Sculpture
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 45.7 x 38.1 cm (18 x 15 in.)
cul
Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, Ẹdo peoples, members of the Igun Eronmwon (royal brasscasters) guild
accession
1999.1
Source extras
tec
Copper alloy
tombstone
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
collection
African Art
didYouKnow
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.
citations
citation
Davidson, Ruth. 1963. "Paintings and Antiques: The New York Apartment of Edward A. Bragaline." Antiques 84, no. 5 (1963): 556-61, fig.6.
citation
Dark, Philip John Crosskey. 1982. <em>An Illustrated Catalogue of Benin Art</em>. Boston, Mass: G.K. Hall, no. 59.
citation
Gustafson, Eleanor H., "Museum Accessions," The Magazine Antiques (December 1999), 778
citation
Petridis, Constantine. "A New Installation for African Art in Cleveland." Tribal 3, no. 36 (Autumn/Winter 2004): 68-73.
citation
Franklin, David, C. Griffith Mann, and Cleveland Museum of Art. 2012. <em>Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, p. 180-1.
citation
<a href="https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Museum+of+American+Folk+Art%22">Museum of American Folk Art</a>. <em>Twentieth Century Masters from the Bragaline Collection for the Benefit of the Museum of Early American Folk Arts</em>. New York: M. Knoedler, 1963
page_number
Reproduced: p. 102, fig. 48
citation
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.
citation
Young-Sanchez. "A Royal Plaque." <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine </em>39, no. 7 (September 1999): 8-9.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 8-9
citation
Petridis, Constantijn. <em>South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. </em>Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003.
page_number
Reproduced: cat. 27, p. 84 - 85
citation
Gunsch, Kathryn Wysocki. <em>The Benin Plaques: A 16th Century Imperial Monument. </em>London : Routledge, Taylor &amp; Francis Group, 2018.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 152; reproduced: p. 162, fig. 2A
citation
Windmuller-Luna, Kristen. “Art from the Benin Kingdom.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine </em>61, no. 1 (Winter 2021): 34-35.
page_number
Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 34.
citation
<em>Digital Benin, </em>Markk Museum Am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Kunste der Welt<em>, (</em>Last Updated: 2021-02-13)
page_number
ID 160767
creditline
John L. Severance Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 08:21:32.226000
sourceId
160767
dept
African Art
coll
African Art
med
Copper alloy
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
7b6d2edbaaf4bf99