Benin Plaques
- Gallery: Room 25
- Made in: Benin City
- Date: 16thC-17thC
- Object type: plaque
- Materials: brass
- Museum number: Af1898,0115.90
- 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
This is a Benin Plaque, a striking brass relief cast using the lost-wax technique. Created in Benin City by the Edo people during the 16th to 17th century, it shows a powerful standing figure holding a sword in his right hand and a ceremonial knife in his left. The figure is richly adorned with a decorated helmet, layers of armor, necklaces, and beaded ornaments. His outfit reflects the grandeur of Benin court life.
The plaque’s surface features intricate river leaf patterns and small rosettes, arranged asymmetrically along the sides. Holes along the top and bottom were used to attach it to palace structures.
These plaques once decorated the palace of the Oba, or king, and capture the wealth and spiritual depth of the Benin Kingdom. Over 900 such plaques are now in museums and private collections worldwide, many acquired after the British Expedition of 1897.
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.
New, in beta. British Museum support has just launched and is still improving: over 1,000 objects so far, with more added all the time.
