Benin Plaques
- Gallery: Room 25
- Made in: Benin City
- Date: 16thC-17thC
- Object type: plaque
- Materials: brass
- Museum number: Af1898,0115.189
- 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
Before you is a brass relief plaque from Benin City, crafted using the ancient lost-wax casting method. The narrow, rectangular plaque is decorated with a pattern of river leaves and stippling across the background. At the center, five mudfish are carved in relief, each viewed from above and facing the same direction.
Notice the intricate details: the fish have curving barbels, prominent eyes, and distinctive fin structures. The outer fish curve with graceful lines, while the central one has a straighter body. Some have two gill rings, others three, with their bodies marked with dotted lozenges and heads with single-dot crosshatching.
This plaque is part of a unique group from the 16th to 17th centuries, originally adorning the palace of the Oba, or king, in Benin. These works are masterpieces of African art and craftsmanship, reflecting the wealth and sophistication of the Benin Kingdom.
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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