Benin Plaques
- Gallery: Room 25
- Made in: Benin City
- Date: 16thC-17thC
- Object type: plaque
- Materials: brass
- Museum number: Af1898,0115.177
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
In this work, you are looking at a Benin Plaque, crafted in Benin City several centuries ago. This relief plaque is cast from brass using the lost-wax method, a highly skilled technique that results in intricate details and rich textures. The surface features river leaf patterns and small dots, adding visual rhythm. In the corners, you'll notice stylised rosettes and upturned crescents.
At the center, the plaque shows an eben sword with a large, leaf-shaped blade that curves gracefully. This ceremonial knife was likely an important symbol of authority and tradition in the Benin Kingdom. These brass plaques once adorned the palace of the Oba, or king, and were crafted between the 16th and 17th centuries. Today, this plaque stands as a rare and vivid piece of historical and artistic legacy from Benin.
See it in person
Benin Plaques is on display in Room 25 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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