Benin Plaques
- Gallery: Room 25
- Made in: Benin City
- Date: 16thC-17thC
- Object type: plaque
- Materials: brass
- Museum number: Af1898,0115.142
- 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 from Benin City, created in the 16th to 17th centuries. Before you is a brass relief plaque, cast using the intricate lost-wax method. The surface is decorated with patterns resembling river leaves and small dots, known as stippling. At the top, you’ll notice four nail holes, and three on the right side below.
The plaque shows three figures standing in a row. Two hold egg-shaped objects in bowl-like containers, while the third holds a footed vessel with a spiky lid. All figures have distinctive hairstyles—parted hair gathered into two bunches at front, and a plait ending in a bead on one side. You’ll see circular marks and scarification patterns on their foreheads, and each is adorned with beaded necklaces, armlets, and sashes.
These plaques once adorned the palace of the Oba, or king, and depict scenes of royal court life. They're masterpieces of Edo craftsmanship, cast in brass with remarkable depth and detail.
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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