Met Benin Bronzes

Met Benin Bronzes

In June 2021, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced it had agreed to return two Benin bronzes and a third object to Nigeria.

The two 16th-century Benin plaques, called the Warrior Chief and Junior Court Official, were among the many objects looted from the Royal Palace in 1897 during the British military raid of Benin. Following that military campaign, they entered the collection of the British Museum and remained there until 1950.

According to the Met, in 1950–51, the British Museum transferred these two plaques (and 24 others) to the National Museum in Lagos. The two plaques entered the international art market under unclear circumstances, as they were never deaccessioned by the National Museum. In 1991 they were acquired by New York collectors Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls, who that same year gave their collection of Benin antiquities to the Met. They were published in "Royal Art of Benin: The Perls Collection" and exhibited internationally.

In March 2002, the Benin Royal Palace and the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Information and Culture requested that “all the cultural property belonging to the Oba of Benin illegally taken away by the British in 1897 should be returned to the rightful owner, the Oba of Benin." The Met, however, did not return the objects at that time.

The third work, a 14th-century bronze Ife head from the Wunmonije Compound in Nigeria, was offered for sale to the Met by a private collector. The seller believed title to the work had been granted by Nigeria, but an inquiry by the Met determined that this was not the case and the museum helped arrange for its return.

In 2021, the three items were delivered to Abba Isa Tijani, the director general of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments, in New York . The repatriation was cast as an act of good faith by the museum, which entered into an agreement with Nigeria for future long term loans.

Others saw the returns as an effort to protect more than 100 other objects stolen during the Benin raid. “In returning these specific plaques, they’re making an unacknowledged distinction between them and the rest of their Benin Bronzes,” wrote Barnaby Phillips, a former BBC reporter and author of "Loot: Britain and the Benin Bronzes." “This return is about PR and legality, not morality.”

The Met continues to hold 160 Benin bronzes.

3

Information Artifact – books, seals, plaques, scrolls

Benin

Ife

Sotheby's (Junior Court Official plaque)

Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls

Metropolitan Museum of Art

British Museum

Warrior Chief plaque: 1991.17.11; Junior Court Official: 1991.17.21

Nigeria

Damien Huffer

Jason Felch