Benin Bronzes

These artworks were some of the 29 pieces that were legally transferred to their country of origin, Nigeria, in fall 2022. The so-called “bronzes,” which were in the museum’s collection for many years, were stolen from Nigeria during the 1897 British raid on Benin City. Benin bronzes has become the catch-all term for works that are actually made of cast-copper alloy and ivory. A legal agreement transferred ownership from the Smithsonian to representatives of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments in October 2022. Also at that time, a museum loan agreement was finalized that allowed these nine art works by Edo artists from Benin City to remain in the National Museum of African Art. Although the works are in the museum in Washington, D.C., Smithsonian staff consulted with Nigerian museum professionals on the text in the exhibition.

The eight works in the exhibition include a very rare late-15th-century copper alloy trophy head, likely of a defeated enemy—one of the earliest known examples of this genre of figurate cast sculpture from the kingdom—as well as a major architectural plaque depicting a group of warriors, and possibly an oba (ruler or king) himself. Also included are a range of larger-scale copper alloy figural sculptures and smaller, personal items, as well as two large incised ivory tusks that were originally part of ancestral altars in the palace. An additional, ninth figure—depicting a female attendant to a queen mother—remains on view in the museum’s primary collection galleries (Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa’s Arts) but is also depicted in this exhibition.