Benin Bronze Plaques: Brass Art of the Oba's Palace, 1500-1650

The Benin bronze plaques are several hundred rectangular relief panels cast in brass for the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now southern Nigeria. Most were made between about 1500 and 1650, during the kingdom’s greatest power, and were nailed to the wooden pillars of the oba’s palace. They form a visual record of court life, warfare, ritual and the arrival of Portuguese traders, and they are among the most famous works of African art.

The Kingdom of Benin around 1500

Benin was a kingdom of the Edo people in the forest region west of the lower Niger River. Its rulers, the obas, governed from Benin City, a large capital enclosed by the earthworks known as the Walls of Benin. In the 15th century Oba Ewuare rebuilt the city and expanded the kingdom, and his successors made it one of the strongest states of the West African coast.

The oba was a sacred king, and the arts of the palace were closely tied to his power. Guilds of craftsmen, including ivory carvers, woodworkers and brass casters, lived in their own wards of the city and worked only for the court. Brass was a royal material: its shine and durability made it a fitting medium for honouring the king and his ancestors.

The Portuguese connection

Portuguese ships reached Benin in the mid-1480s; the explorer João Afonso de Aveiro is usually credited with the first official visit, around 1485–1486. The Portuguese wanted pepper, ivory, cloth and, for a time, captives. In exchange they supplied large quantities of brass and copper, mostly in the form of manillas, horseshoe-shaped rings that served as currency along the coast.

This trade transformed metalwork in Benin. With far more brass available than before, the casters could produce works on a new scale. A 2023 chemical study of manillas found on shipwrecks concluded that much of the metal traded to West Africa in the 16th century came from the Rhineland in Germany, shipped through Portuguese hands.

Under Oba Esigie, who reigned in the early 16th century (often dated c. 1504–1550), relations with Portugal were especially close. Portuguese soldiers with firearms fought alongside Benin’s army, notably in the war against the Igala kingdom of Idah around 1515–1516. These years are thought to be when plaque production began.

What the plaques show

The plaques are usually about 40 to 50 centimetres high, cast in relief, with figures standing out from a flat background. The background is often decorated with a punched pattern of four-petalled leaves, usually identified as river leaves linked to Olokun, the Edo god of the sea and wealth.

The most common subjects are people of the court. The oba appears in full regalia of coral beads, sometimes supported by attendants or holding leopards by the tail, a symbol of his power over the wild. Chiefs, war leaders, priests and palace officials are shown with the dress and objects that marked their rank. Musicians play drums, horns and bells, and some plaques show ceremonies or hunting scenes.

Warfare is a frequent theme. Warriors carry spears, swords and shields, and a few crowded plaques show battles with defeated enemies. Animals carry symbolic meanings: the leopard stands for royal power, the mudfish for the link between the land and the waters of Olokun, and the crocodile for danger and authority.

Portuguese men are among the most striking figures. Casters showed them with long straight hair, beards, prominent noses and European clothing, including helmets and hats. They often hold crossbows, muskets or manillas, a direct reference to the brass that made the plaques possible. Their appearance on palace walls placed the newcomers within the oba’s world, as foreign allies and trading partners serving the court.

How they were made

The plaques were cast by the lost-wax method. The caster first built a core of clay, covered it with a layer of beeswax or latex, and carved the scene in this soft layer. The model was then coated in fine clay and heated, so that the wax melted and ran out, leaving a hollow mould.

Molten brass was poured into the space, and once it had cooled the mould was broken away. Each plaque was therefore unique. Finishing work included chasing, or tooling, the surface to sharpen details and add the background patterns.

The casters belonged to a royal guild called Igun Eronmwon, based in a quarter of Benin City that still bears their name. Edo tradition says that brass casting was introduced or reorganised in Benin by a master caster named Iguegha, sent from Ife around the late 13th or 14th century. The guild worked under strict royal control: only the oba could commission brass objects.

Metal analysis has shown that most “Benin bronzes” are in fact brass, an alloy of copper and zinc, often with lead. The term “bronze” became customary in European museums after 1897 and has remained in use.

The plaques in the palace

The plaques were fixed by nails through holes at their corners to the wooden pillars that supported the roofs of the palace courtyards and galleries. The Dutch writer Olfert Dapper, in his description of Africa published in 1668 and based on the reports of visitors, described the palace galleries as supported by wooden pillars covered with cast copper showing war exploits and battles.

Why production stopped is uncertain. Most scholars believe that plaques were no longer being made by the later 17th century, perhaps because of changes in palace architecture or shifts in court ritual. By the 19th century they had been taken down and kept in a palace storehouse, where they were reportedly consulted as a record of court dress and protocol.

1897 and after

In February 1897 a British force of around 1,200 men attacked Benin City in the Benin Expedition of 1897, in retaliation for the killing of members of a British party in January. The city was captured on 18 February and the palace burned. British forces removed thousands of objects, including the plaques, which were then sold or given to museums and private collectors.

The British Museum acquired the largest group of plaques, and the Ethnological Museum in Berlin bought many others. The sudden appearance of these works in Europe astonished critics, some of whom at first refused to believe that they had been made in Africa without outside instruction. Research soon showed that they were the work of Benin’s own guilds.

Since the 1930s Nigeria and the royal court of Benin have asked for the return of the looted works. In 2022 Germany agreed to transfer ownership of its Benin collections to Nigeria, and several museums in Britain and the United States returned objects. Debates continue over where and how the works should be displayed.

By the numbers

Timeline

• c. 1485–1486: Portuguese ships under João Afonso de Aveiro reach Benin.
• c. 1504: Oba Esigie comes to the throne; close ties with Portugal follow.
• c. 1515–1516: Portuguese soldiers fight for Benin in the war against Idah.
• c. 1500–1650: Main period of plaque casting for the palace pillars.
• 1668: Olfert Dapper’s description of Africa mentions palace pillars covered with cast metal.
• 1897, 18 February: British forces capture Benin City; the plaques are removed.
• 2022: Germany agrees to transfer ownership of its Benin collections to Nigeria.

Why it matters

The Benin plaques are a rare visual archive of an African kingdom, made by its own artists for its own court. They record dress, ranks, rituals and wars, and they show how West Africans saw the first Europeans to arrive by sea. Their removal in 1897 has also made them a central case in the worldwide debate over the return of cultural objects taken during colonial conquest.