African Art and the Benin Kingdom

The artwork of Benin first became known to western viewers in 1897 as a result of a british military expedition.  Thousands of art works, once housed in the royal palace and used in service of the divine kingship, were confiscated and eventually dispersed to museums and private collections throughout the world.  Despite the great loss and distruction that these events caused, the art of Benin is not extinct.  The events leading to the British invasion were due to a Britis officer wanting to visit the king in Benin city in January of 1897, the king was offering sacrifices to his ancestors at this time, and the British officer was warned by chiefs to stayt away and return later as a visit as this time would be deemed inauspicious.  The British officer however pressed on and as he neared Benin city, he and most of his party was ambushed and killed.  The British navy quickly retaliated in  an attack that was to become known as the British Punitive Expedition, which destroyed or burned most of the palace and city, looted and exported thousands of objects of art and exiled the King.  In 1914 the Kin's son was permitted to restore monarchy and start the rebuilding process of the palace.  THe art was however never returned.

The kingdom of Benin is loacated in southern Nigeria, with the majority if the kingdom's people being known as Edo, a name also given to their language. Benins borders also have the Igbo, Ijaw, Yoruba and Itsekiri living within its limits. Benin city is home to over 160,000 people and has always been regarded as the administrative and religious center of the kingdom.  Within this city, ones status is determined by his achievements, particularly being granted important titles within the government, not an easy task, as the political system is complex and not easy to manipulate.

Oba Heads - Possibly the most well known art of the Benin Kingdon is it's lost wax bronzing and in particular the heads of Kings (Oba's) and Queen Mother's Heads which were made as altar pieces. Most Benin castings were made of brass, which ia an alloy of copper and zinc with varying amounts of other elements. A few castings, especially in the early period, were made in bronze the copper and tin. It is believed that the cast brass heads were introduced for royal ancestors in the late fourteenth century under the reign of Oba Oguola, the fifth king or Oba. Pre 1897, the cast heads were placed on an altar dedicated to the past Oba's of benin, while the terracotta and wood were placed on the ancestral shrines of brasscasters and chiefs respectively.  It was one of the first ritual duties undertaken by a new Oba, to commission brasscasters and Ivory carvers to create objects to decorate an altar commemorating his late father.  This altar had a dual purpose, one it was a tribute to the achievements of the deceased fatehr and two, a point of contact to the spirit.  The royal altars would normally have brass Oba heads which would support a carved ivory tusk, a aseberia or altar tableau which depicts the Oba and his attendants and rattle staffs ro ukhurhe which were shaken to call the spirits, and brass bells also used to call the ancestral spirits.

Queen Mother Heads - Altars were also constructed, dedicated to past Iyobas, or queen mothers.  Like the Oba altars, the altars for queen mothers were also adorned with brass commemorative heads.  The title of iyoba and queen mother commemorative heads was started in the early sixteenth century by Oba Esigie to honor his mother Idia, who assisted in averting two serious threats to his rule and the integrity of the Benin Kingdom.

The head of the queen mother casting shows a forward pointing coral-bead crown which is an elongated version of an elaborate coiffure worn by high ranking Edo women.  The right to wear a beaded crown is limited to only the Oba(king), the Iyoba (queen mother) and Ezomo (the Oba's principal war chief), thus showing the importance of the queen mother in Benin political heirarchy.