Benin Plaques
- Gallery: Room 25
- Made in: Benin City
- Date: 16thC-17thC
- Object type: plaque
- Materials: brass
- Museum number: Af1898,0115.198
- 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 is a Benin Plaque from 16th to 17th century Benin City. The plaque is made of brass using the lost-wax casting method and shows four stylized mudfish in profile, facing left. Each fish features ringed eyes, open mouths with circular shapes inside, dorsal and pectoral fins, and tri-lobed tails. The background is richly decorated with river leaf patterns and stippling. The fish bodies and heads are covered with single-dot crosshatching, adding texture and depth.
These brass plaques once adorned the royal palace of the Oba, symbolizing the kingdom’s wealth, power, and artistic mastery. Made by the Edo people, they reflect a unique and highly developed tradition of metalwork. Scholars like William Fagg have studied their stylistic groups, suggesting they were crafted by skilled master artisans.
The British Museum acquired this plaque as part of a group brought to London after the 1897 British Expedition to Benin City. Today, such plaques are recognized as significant artistic and historical treasures.
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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