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Thumbnail-size images of copyrighted artworks are displayed under fair use, in accordance with guidelines recommended by the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, published by the College Art Association in February 2015.
Relief plaque showing a crocodile with mudfish
Edo, Benin kingdom, Nigeria
c. 1530-1570
Medium/Technique
Copper alloy
Dimensions
Height x width: 19 1/4 x 7 1/2 in. (48.9 x 19.1 cm)
Credit Line
Robert Owen Lehman Collection
Accession NumberL-G 7.21.2012
CollectionsAfrica and Oceania
ClassificationsPlaques
The motif on this bronze plaque—a crocodile holding a mudfish in its jaws—is fairly uncommon in the set of more than 800 plaques that once decorated the pillars in the audience hall of the Oba, or king, of Benin. It occurs on two other plaques in the National Museum, Benin City. While the mudfish is usually seen as a metaphor for the Oba, here it is part of a more complex image and has a different meaning. Scholars of Benin art and contemporary palace officials suggest that the crocodile and mudfish may be related to sacrifices offered to the god of wealth, Olokun.
Provenance16th century, commissioned by Oba Esigie (r. 1517-1550s) or his son Oba Orhogbua (r. 1550s-1570s), Royal Palace, Benin City; by descent to Oba Ovonramwen (Ovonramwen Nogbaisi, b. about 1857 – d. about 1914; r. 1888 - 1897); 1897, looted from the Royal Palace during the British military occupation of Benin; 1898, given by the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the British Museum, London (accession no. 98 1-15.180); 1972, acquired from the British Museum by Robert Owen Lehman, Rochester, NY; 2012, promised gift of Robert Owen Lehman to the MFA.