Thread by @profdanhicks

My new interim report on what we currently know about the Benin collections of the University of Oxford has just been published online - read it here >> prm.ox.ac.uk/benin-bronzes

the 229-page report summarises
- 145 objects which provenance research suggests were looted in the Benin 1897 attack
- 15 further objects possibly from that attack
- more items taken in other expeditions in what's today Nigeria
- further Benin objects exported in the 20th century

here are some of those @Pitt_Rivers objects in a thread

1/ Carved ivory tusk burnt in the fires during the desecration of Benin city

2/ another sacred royal carved ivory tusk looted from Benin in 1897

3/ Ivory ladle with inlaid bronze and a bronze human figure on the handle

4/ Ivory Benin commemorative head with eyes inlaid with bronze

5/ Ivory pedestal bowl inlaid with bronze

6/ Ivory lid

7/ Brass relief plaque depicting three figures, the central on holding a ceremonial box

8/ Ivory carved figure, probably broken from a ceremonial staff or flywhisk

9/ Bronze ring-shaped container with incised decoration depicting a fish

10/ Bronze altar-piece base

11/ Gilded bronze cone-shaped hip ornament

12/ Bronze armlet

13/ Bronze armlet

14/ Bronze armlet

15/ Gilded bronze armlet

16/ Ivory armlet with inlaid bronze

17/ ceremonial sword in a red coralwork sheath

18/ Bronze altarpiece with figures of the Queen Mother with six attendants

19/ Ivory armlet inlaid with brass

20/ Ivory double armlet with carved openwork decoration

21/ Ivory side-blown trumpet (fragment)

22/ Bronze armlet

23/ Bronze armlet

24/ Bronze armlet

25/ Bronze armlet with inset coral

26/ wooden painted altar-piece igbile mask with a canework base

27/ Brass powder cylinder

28/ Bronze plaque fragmnt with the image of a serpent

29/ Brass relief plaque

30/ Brass plaque with an image of a mudfish

31/ Brass sculpture or altar-piece in the form of a morion-shaped helmet

32/ Brass ceremonial casket with a cover and chain for suspension with relief decoration and chased work

33/ Brass ceremonial staff with a figure of a bird

34/ Bronze hip-ornament mask

35/ Bronze hip-ornament mask depicting a ram’s head

36/ Bronze hip-ornament mask depicting a crocodile’s head

37/ another bronze hip-ornament mask depicting a crocodile’s head

38/ Bronze altar bell

39/ Bronze armlet with open-work decoration

40/ another bronze armlet with open-work decoration

41/ copper armlet with bronze decoration depicting two faces

42/ Bronze penannular leg-ring or armlet

43/ Copper armlet

44/ Iron armlet

45/ Ivory armlet

46/ Ivory hip-ornament mask depicting a leopard

47/ Ivory door-bolt from the Royal Palace*

* yes they even looted the door bolts

48/ Brass ceremonial fan with repoussé decoration

49/ wooden lidded bowl or casket overlaid with brass, in the form of an animal’s head

50/ wooden figure of a horse-rider, broken from a ceremonial staff

51/ Brass plaque with relief decoration depicting three human figures

okay to see all 145 @Pitt_Rivers objects, and to read the discussion of the other objects that may be from the 1897 Benin attack, and its aftermath - and items from elsewhere in Nigeria taken during military expeditions, download the report here >> prm.ox.ac.uk/benin-bronzes

oh yes we also have some remarkable primary documentation of the purchase of recently-looted Benin material by Augustus @Pitt_Rivers in 1898 and 1899

each of which we can match with objects in the collection today

one more for you @uwagbale_ - A Carved wooden stool looted from Benin City in 1897 by Lieutenant Reginald Kerr Granville

for those in a hurry, from the appendices of the report here are the pictures of the @Pitt_Rivers objects discussed and the historic photographs from the Benin 1897 attack, in 1 minute and 48 seconds

next steps towards African cultural restitution @monznomad @CirajRassool @Dr_MaiMusie @kgavuakb @chirikure @MCHammer @asemota @victorsozaboy @enotie_

The direct link to the Benin report is here >> prm.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/…