the Trésor de Béhanzin—looted by General Alfred Dodds in November 1892 from the Palace of Abomey, and donated by him to the French state—is being returned from Paris to Bénin
here’s a shortlist thread of some of the 26 items involved:
1/ the Throne of King Ghézo
2/ The Throne of King Glèlè
3/ the doors of the Royal Palace of Abomey
4/ an iron sculpture dedicated to Gou
5/ and these three remarkable painted wooden figures of kings, in human, shark and lion forms
* short not shortlist!! -- it's all going back, sorry for the typo!!
it's been a very busy week for the return of looted objects from France to Bénin 🇧🇯 and from the UK to Benin City, Nigeria🇳🇬
here's a summary of what's been going on (THREAD) 👇
1/ a "farewell exhibition" is being held at the @quaibranly
displaying the 26 items of the Trésor de Béhanzin, looted from the Abomey Palace in the Kingdom of Dahomey in 1892—which will be returned to Cotonou next month
The exhibit is open till Sunday quaibranly.fr/fr/expositions…
2/ a major conference was held to mark this landmark return, with speeches from many of the key players including Prof @FelwineSarr and Prof Bénédicte Savoy @KuK_TUBerlin — who compared this watershed moment to the fall of the Berlin Wall: "there was before, and there was after"
just catching up with the Policy Exchange “History Matters Principles for Change” culture war manifesto, and 60 seconds in my first observation is that “the UK’s leading think tank” appears not to understand the difference between English Heritage and Historic England
also direct contravention of @MuseumsAssoc ethical guidelines on donors and curatorial integrity here
it will also surprise Oxbridge Governing Bodies that Policy Exchange think that the university’s Vice Chancellor might be a “stakeholder” in their decision-making — while evidently elected student bodies, alumni, unions, the wider public, etc may not be
✨ the paperback edition of #BrutishMuseums is officially published today, with a new preface and an updated list of museums holding Benin Bronzes! ✨
there are quite a few made-up words and concepts in the book, so to mark the day here are seven of them in a thread 👇
1/ Chronopolitics
the use of time as a mode of colonial domination, including the weaponisation of the discipline of Archaeology #BrutishMuseums
2/ Necrography
An account of death and loss. A death-history. An anti-biography. When applied to material culture, an alternative to the tired idiom 'the social life of things' or 'the cultural biography of objects' #BrutishMuseums
here is the submission my colleague @nickmirzoeff and I have written in support of Tamara’s case against Harvard—to see these images of her ancestors returned to her
@MCHammer a short thread of the five known Benin ivory hip-ornament masks—small portraits of Idia, first Iyoba (Queen Mother) of the 16th-century Benin Kingdom 👇
@MCHammer 1/ This ivory Idia mask is in the British Museum. It was looted by Sir Ralph Moor in the sacking of Benin City, and later bought by the @britishmuseum from anthropologist Charles Seligman #BrutishMuseums
@MCHammer@britishmuseum 2/ This is the ivory Idia hip-ornament mask, also looted in 1897, that is currently in the @LindenMuseum in Stuttgart, Germany (but was formerly in the @Pitt_Rivers second collection)