Benin/Edo Plaque

Our plaque depicts two Portuguese men holding “neptunes,” copper disks which the Portuguese traded for slaves, ivory, and other goods, and which, because of their value to the Benin royal metalsmithing guild, were used as currency among the Edo.  The Portuguese were readily accepted in Benin: they represented the wealth and power the divine oba (king) was able to bring to his people,[2] (a fulfillment of the king’s association with the spirit of the sea, Olukun, bringer of wealth).  The Portuguese were said to have provided troops for the conquest of the neighboring Igala kingdom during the reign of oba Esigie in the 16th century.  Trade was mutually beneficial, and the Portuguese made no efforts to dislocate the king’s authority. Favorable representations of the Portuguese are well-documented, with the tradition of showing them in 16th or 17th century dress, often armed, helmeted, and long-haired.[3]

Plaques are a difficult subject, as the scholarship for where, when, and how many plaques exist seems to be somewhat conjectural.  It is accepted that between 900 and 1000 plaques were ripped from the support posts in the royal palace during the British “Punitive Expedition” of 1897, (and that upwards of 3000--or 4000—total pieces went to England in either private or military hands).[4]  But even very recent scholarship suggests that the palace plaques were rectangular and were of two sizes: those with side flanges, and those without side flanges.[5]  So where does that leave an “oval or shield-shaped” plaque?  “Relegated to pilasters in the galleries in the Benin royal palace, and as is probably the case here, on the doors to the building,”[6] obviously a best guess.  In 1919, a researcher by the name of Felix von Luschan estimated that only 60 similar plaques existed, and possibly only 10 with this specific motif,[7] (2 Portuguese figures against a background dotted with small circled crosses) with only 2 presently accounted for--one at the Musee du Quai Branly, Paris, and one at the Museum fur Volkerkunde, Dresden.  William Fagg, conservator for the plaques at the British Museum, concluded that the plaque now held at Quai Branly was the first of its kind, and ascribed it to “the Master of the Circled Cross,” working in the 16th century, or the middle period of Benin palatial art.[8]

Our plaque is very similar to the Quai Branly example, (see attached) with our casting exhibiting a little less detail along the buttons and collar of the tunics worn by the figures. The overall mood of the piece, with the two men of equal stature grasping a Neptune between them, seems to be rather egalitarian and fraternal.  Ours is larger overall by about 4 inches in height and 1 inch in width, and it appears that our background may never have been intended to extend above and behind the heads of the figures. The “circled crosses” are more uniform and more tightly modelled in our example.  Certainly the two are sister pieces, and if ours was not made by the same master, they are too similar to think that the composition had not become an accepted motif. On its own merits, this beautiful piece exemplifies the highest standards of the fabulously accomplished artistry of the Benin empire at its height.