{
"data": {
"id": 160767,
"accession_number": "1999.1",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Plaque, 1500s\u20131600s. Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, \u1eb8do peoples, members of the Igun Eronmwon (royal brasscasters) guild. Copper alloy; overall: 45.7 x 38.1 cm (18 x 15 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1999.1",
"current_location": "108A African",
"title": "Plaque",
"creation_date": "1500s\u20131600s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1500,
"creation_date_latest": 1699,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, \u1eb8do peoples, members of the Igun Eronmwon (royal brasscasters) guild"
],
"technique": "Copper alloy",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "African Art",
"collection": "African Art",
"type": "Sculpture",
"measurements": "Overall: 45.7 x 38.1 cm (18 x 15 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.457,
"height_inch": 18,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0,
"width": 0.381,
"width_inch": 15,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Commissioned from the Igun Eronmwon",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "possibly 1500s-1600s.",
"sortorder": null
},
{
"description": "by descent to \u1eccba Ov\u1ecdnramw\u1eb9n (Ov\u1ecdnramw\u1eb9n Nogbaisi, [c. 1857\u20131914; r. 1888\u201397], Royal Palace, Benin City",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "sent to England by Sir Ralph Moor following the Siege of Benin (1897)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"- British Museum, Charles Hercules Read, and Ormonde M. Dalton. 1899. Antiquities from
the city of Benin and from other parts of West Africa. London: British Museum. (preface,
unpaginated)
- Provenance reported by Mitchell-Innes & Nash gallery (\u201cas \u201cBrought back to England by
the British Punitive Expedition (1897)) \u2013 undated letter on gallery letterhead, Curatorial File
"
],
"date": "1897",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "to the British Museum by gift from Her Majesty\u2019s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"British Museum, Charles Hercules Read, and Ormonde M. Dalton. 1899. Antiquities from
the city of Benin and from other parts of West Africa. London: British Museum. (preface,
unpaginated)
"
],
"date": null,
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "British Museum, London, until 1950 as no. 98/1-5/43",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"- British Museum, Charles Hercules Read, and Ormonde M. Dalton. 1899. Antiquities from
the city of Benin and from other parts of West Africa. London: British Museum. (preface,
unpaginated)
- Provenance reported by Mitchell-Innes & Nash gallery \u2013 undated letter on gallery, Curatorial File
letterhead
\u2022 Letter of January 13, 1999 from Anna Gaudion on British Museum letterhead, Curatorial File
"
],
"date": "1897-1950",
"sortorder": 5
},
{
"description": "(Sydney Burney, London, as sales agent\nfor the British Museum, 1950, sold to Kent-Bragaline, Inc.; Edward A. Bragaline, New York City, NY)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"- Provenance reported by Mitchell-Innes & Nash gallery\u2013 undated letter on gallery letterhead, Curatorial File
- Letter of January 13, 1999 from Anna Gaudion on British Museum letterhead, Curatorial File
"
],
"date": "1950-by at least 1963",
"sortorder": 6
},
{
"description": "Edward A. Bragaline, New York City, NY, sold to private collectors",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"- Provenance reported by Mitchell-Innes & Nash gallery \u2013 undated letter on gallery
letterhead, Curatorial File
Listed and illustrated in Knoedler & Co. New York, NY (Lot 48, November 6th-23rd, 1963)
"
],
"date": null,
"sortorder": 7
},
{
"description": "(Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York City, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"Invoice (2-1-1999), receipts, etc (Curatorial File) \u2013 as MI&N 1583
"
],
"date": "1999",
"sortorder": 8
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1999-",
"sortorder": 9
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "Look at the side of this plaque. The designs on the slender edges are considered visual \"signatures\" of the different casters who made plaques for the Oba of Benin.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Nearly 900 metal plaques once adorned the \u1eccba\u2019s palace courtyard, documenting Benin\u2019s history and customs. This one depicts two male attendants (enobore) supporting an \u1eccba. It uses hierarchical composition: important figures are large and centered. Everything about the \u1eccba is greater than his companions: their bodies, clothing, and jewelry. The flanking attendants physically support a man weighed down by heavy royal garments and responsibilities. Brasscasters skillfully cast their clasping hands projecting from the plaque. The bottom left number means the British Museum formerly owned this. It entered their collection in 1898, one year after British troops took it from a palace storeroom during the Siege of Benin.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60745713"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1999.1-plaque"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Davidson, Ruth. 1963. \"Paintings and Antiques: The New York Apartment of Edward A. Bragaline.\" Antiques 84, no. 5 (1963): 556-61, fig.6.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Dark, Philip John Crosskey. 1982. An Illustrated Catalogue of Benin Art. Boston, Mass: G.K. Hall, no. 59.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Gustafson, Eleanor H., \"Museum Accessions,\" The Magazine Antiques (December 1999), 778",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantine. \"A New Installation for African Art in Cleveland.\" Tribal 3, no. 36 (Autumn/Winter 2004): 68-73.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Franklin, David, C. Griffith Mann, and Cleveland Museum of Art. 2012. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, p. 180-1.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Museum of American Folk Art. Twentieth Century Masters from the Bragaline Collection for the Benefit of the Museum of Early American Folk Arts. New York: M. Knoedler, 1963",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 102, fig. 48",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/twentiethcentury00mkno/page/n101/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art, \u201cMajor Benin Bronze Plaque, Rembrandt Print, Other Works of Art Enter CMA Collection,\u201d March 12, 1999, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.",
"page_number": null,
"url": "https://archive.org/details/cmapr4240"
},
{
"citation": "Young-Sanchez. \"A Royal Plaque.\" Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 39, no. 7 (September 1999): 8-9.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 8-9",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM1999-07/page/8/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantijn. South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: cat. 27, p. 84 - 85",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Gunsch, Kathryn Wysocki. The Benin Plaques: A 16th Century Imperial Monument. London : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 152; reproduced: p. 162, fig. 2A",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Windmuller-Luna, Kristen. \u201cArt from the Benin Kingdom.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 1 (Winter 2021): 34-35.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 34.",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Digital Benin, Markk Museum Am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Kunste der Welt, (Last Updated: 2021-02-13)",
"page_number": "ID 160767",
"url": "https://digitalbenin.org/catalogue/8_160767"
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1999.1",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_web.jpg",
"width": "752",
"height": "900",
"filesize": "302342",
"filename": "1999.1_web.jpg"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_print.jpg",
"width": "2842",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "2988914",
"filename": "1999.1_print.jpg"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_full.tif",
"width": "8534",
"height": "10211",
"filesize": "261449524",
"filename": "1999.1_full.tif"
}
},
"alternate_images": [
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt0_web.jpg",
"width": "900",
"height": "762",
"filesize": "317690"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt0_print.jpg",
"width": "3400",
"height": "2879",
"filesize": "3578246"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt0_full.tif",
"width": "9471",
"height": "8019",
"filesize": "227871344"
},
"date_created": "2020-07-31T07:41:54",
"annotation": ""
},
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt1_web.jpg",
"width": "742",
"height": "900",
"filesize": "287941"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt1_print.jpg",
"width": "2802",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "3158892"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt1_full.tif",
"width": "8600",
"height": "10437",
"filesize": "269301196"
},
"date_created": "2020-07-30T09:56:00",
"annotation": ""
},
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt2_web.jpg",
"width": "538",
"height": "900",
"filesize": ""
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt2_print.jpg",
"width": "2031",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": ""
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt2_full.tif",
"width": "7554",
"height": "12646",
"filesize": ""
},
"date_created": "2020-07-30T11:02:15",
"annotation": ""
},
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt3_web.jpg",
"width": "419",
"height": "900",
"filesize": "183142"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt3_print.jpg",
"width": "1584",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "1213971"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt3_full.tif",
"width": "6228",
"height": "13367",
"filesize": "249774612"
},
"date_created": "2020-07-30T12:41:19",
"annotation": ""
},
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt4_web.jpg",
"width": "900",
"height": "867",
"filesize": ""
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt4_print.jpg",
"width": "3400",
"height": "3275",
"filesize": ""
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt4_full.tif",
"width": "7818",
"height": "7531",
"filesize": ""
},
"date_created": "2020-07-30T12:59:11",
"annotation": ""
},
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt5_web.jpg",
"width": "601",
"height": "900",
"filesize": "274928"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt5_print.jpg",
"width": "2272",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "2503210"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt5_full.tif",
"width": "7683",
"height": "11499",
"filesize": "265067988"
},
"date_created": "2020-07-30T13:15:49",
"annotation": ""
},
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt6_web.jpg",
"width": "609",
"height": "900",
"filesize": "273363"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt6_print.jpg",
"width": "2301",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "2432877"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt6_full.tif",
"width": "7587",
"height": "11210",
"filesize": "255178856"
},
"date_created": "2020-07-30T13:27:23",
"annotation": ""
},
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt7_web.jpg",
"width": "340",
"height": "900",
"filesize": ""
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt7_print.jpg",
"width": "1285",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": ""
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt7_full.tif",
"width": "4855",
"height": "12850",
"filesize": ""
},
"date_created": "2020-07-30T13:54:50",
"annotation": ""
},
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt8_web.jpg",
"width": "710",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "496086"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt8_print.jpg",
"width": "2703",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "6623003"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.1/1999.1_alt8_full.tif",
"width": "3975",
"height": "5000",
"filesize": "59644780"
},
"annotation": ""
}
],
"creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 160767,
"creators": [],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1999-03-01T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1500,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1500s\u20131600s",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [
"Three-Figure Plaque"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-08-03 14:23:35.036000"
}
}