Benin Plaques
- Gallery: Room 25
- Made in: Benin City
- Date: 16thC-17thC
- Object type: plaque
- Materials: brass
- Museum number: Af1898,0115.122
- 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.
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About this object
Before you stands a brass relief plaque from Benin City, created by the Edo people around the 16th to 17th centuries. The plaque is decorated with intricate river leaf patterns and stippling across the background. Three courtiers stand in a row, each holding circular, beaded rattles. They are richly dressed, with deep collars, sashes, beaded necklaces, and intricate skirt patterns. The outer figures wear crested beaded caps, while the central one has a feathered cap and chain around the neck.
This work was part of the royal palace in Benin and likely attached to wooden pillars. Made using the lost-wax casting method, it represents the high level of technical skill and artistic vision of the Benin bronzers. The detailed figures capture the splendor of royal court life. Today, the Benin plaques are widely recognized as masterpieces of African art—unique, detailed, and deeply symbolic of the kingdom’s grandeur.
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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