Benin Plaques
- Gallery: Room 25
- Made in: Benin City
- Date: 16thC-17thC
- Object type: plaque
- Materials: brass
- Museum number: Af1898,0115.75
- 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 Benin Plaque, a striking brass relief created in Benin City during the 16th to 17th centuries. This plaque was once part of the grand decoration of the Oba’s palace and made using a sophisticated casting method called lost wax. The plaque features a richly detailed background of stippling and river-leaf patterns, with rosettes adding accents to the corners and sides.
At the center stands a figure holding a crocodile-headed staff, symbolically holding a fish in its mouth. This figure's left hand is joined with that of a smaller, naked figure known as an emada. The central figure is elaborately dressed, wearing a helmet with snake designs, a long skirt, and a sash. The style and positioning of the figures reflect the grandeur and complexity of Benin court life.
These plaques offer a vivid and unique record of the Benin Kingdom’s artistic achievements and were made before many were taken to the West following 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.
