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Oba Akenzua II's Restitution Requests KUNST&KONTEXT 1/2017 FORGERY - COPY - FALSIFICATION - AGING 23 Oba Akenzua II’s restitution requests very complex case from the year 1935. It involves two throne stools from the kingdom of Benin that were taken out of the country as part of the war booty when it was overrun by a British punitive expedi- tion in 1897 (fig. 3). The two bronze stools (fig. 1, 2) are of similar sizes and constructed in almost the same way: the base and the seat are slightly rounded and held together by stylized snakes. Some motifs can be found on both stools, e.g. a frog and a grimacing face. But one of them (fig. 1) is more ornately decorated than the other. The snakes’ bodies in the central area have scales and the symbols are de- picted as reliefs or engravings on the lower and upper sides of the seats and the pedestals. In his 1981 study on the two objects, Irwin Tunis describes their material, origin and iconography in detail. Otto Werner (1970) also analysed the alloy used in the two throne stools (as well as 152 other bronze objects from Benin) in an article. Oba Akenzua II and Lord Plymouth Fig. 1: Throne stool attributed to the Oba Eresoy (approx. 1735-1750), Inv.-No. III C 20295 (height 40 cm, Ø 40.5 cm) The first documents in the archive (dated April 1935) refer Restitution requests are currently being discussed in the to a meeting in February 1935, when Lord Plymouth, then meetings and publications of the ethnological museums. Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, came to the While these discussions lead in some cases to coopera- kingdom of Benin during an official visit to the British tion projects, implementing many of the ideas remains colony of Southern Nigeria. The king, Akenzua II (1899- difficult. This can be seen from the following example. 1978), known as the Oba, ruled from 1932 until his death. In the National Archives 1 in London there are documents He asked Lord Plymouth if he could help him recover (Foreign Office and Foreign & Commonwealth Office- Re two throne stools, which had been confiscated during cords, 1935-1943), which provide evidence of an early and the British punitive expedition. History of the throne stools The two throne stools are attributed to Akenzua’s prede- cessors Oba Eresoyen (approx. 1735-1750) and Oba Esi- gie (approx. 1504-1550) respectively 2. Under Oba Esigie, who spoke fluent Portuguese, there were regular trade relations with Portugal. The correspondence files of the National Archives mention that a throne stool was made by the Portuguese as a gift for a predecessor of the Oba. “The Stool, which I understand is said to have been pre- sented to one of the Oba’s ancestors by the Portuguese, is one of those illustrated on page 112 of H. Ling Roth’s book ‘Great Benin: Its Customs, Art and Horrors’”.3 Read and Dalton (1899: 6) report on Esigie’s reign: “When the white men came, in the time when Esige [sic] was king, Fig. 3: Throne stool (Inv. No. III C 20295) – one of the objects looted in the 1897 war a man named Ahammangiwa came with them. He made 24 FORGERY - COPY - FALSIFICATION - AGING KUNST&KONTEXT 1/2017 Fig. 2: Throne stool attributed to Oba Esigie (approx. 1504-1550), Fig. 4: Oba Akenzua (middle) and Lord Plymouth (right) around 1935 in Benin Inv.-No. III C 20296 (height 38.5 cm, Ø 40 cm) brasswork and plaques for the king, he stayed a very Ling Roth supplements King‘s remarks by a statement he long time—he had many wives but no children—the king had received from Cyril Punch (1857-1932), a businessman gave him plenty of boys to teach. We can make brass- (trader) who regularly visited Benin City around 1890: work now, but not as he made it, because he and all his “Mr. Cyril Punch remembers very well seeing these ar- boys are dead. Before King Esige died he sent one man ticles. They were lying about in one of the compounds, named Inoyen to the white man‘s country with some and he writes me „one could not help being struck with white men. He stayed long, and when he returned, he their similarity to the Delphic Tripod in the Hippodrome brought back with him that plain stool and a message of Constantinople. Probably this is only a coincidence. I of salutation from the king of the white men.” do not put much importance on their having once been The art historian Barbara W. Blackmun writes that the used as a stool. I tried hard to get from Aguramassi throne (inventory number III C 20.296) is Esigie’s throne, what they were made for, but he would only laugh and and the other (inventory number III C 20.295), which is say they were for play.” (1968: 113). Eresoyen’s (2010: 444), is a copy of the former. And Paula Girshick Ben-Amos, also an art historian, writes regard- The statements by the Nigerian artist and historian ing the latter throne stool that it was made around the Sweet Ufumwen Ebeigbe about the wooden stools could time when Eresoyen came to the throne, between 1735 also help to explain the symbols on the bronze throne and 1737 (2010: 472).4 stools: “One key function of Benin royal stools that gives further insight into the nature of Benin narrative art is Little is known about how the throne stools were used. their use by past Benin Kings as communicative objects In Ling Roth’s book, where photos of them are repro- which they used to transmit coded cryptic messages that duced, at a time when they were still in the posses- were interpreted pictorially. A fine example is a round sion of Ralph Moor, there are the following explanations: stool (erhe) that is still in the custody of Benin National “Whether these were royal stools or not we cannot say, Museum in Nigeria that was carved for Oba Eweka but the royal stool on which the king sat when he gran- II (1914-1933) for such a purpose. The archival record ted an interview to Lieut. King, was made of copper, of the Museum describes this artifact as a ‘telegraphic about 18ins high. The Lieut. tells us that‚ every king stool’ and it reports that it is one of the several stools on his accession to the throne has a new stool which is that Oba Eweka II (who ruled Benin from 1914 - 1933) placed on his tomb. The shape of the stool varies ac- commissioned to convey coded messages to his father, cording to the taste of the monarch. One of those which Oba Ovonramwen (who ruled Benin from 1888-1914).” Mr. King saw on the tomb of a king was supported by (2015: 7). copper serpents, of which the heads touched the ground forming the feet.” 5 KUNST&KONTEXT 1/2017 FORGERY - COPY - FALSIFICATION - AGING 25 The search for the throne stools ferred to the British Museum. Since about 50 auctions had taken place at Sotheby’s in 1909, the librarian of the museum requested a more precise date before searching 8 Most of the documents mentioned here can be further. found in the appendix From the months of May and June 1935, no communica- tions have been preserved in the files. The correspond- Oba Akenzua II presented his request during a visit ence begins again in July 1935 and it is clear from this from Lord Plymouth in Benin City in February 1935 and that Captain A. R. A. Dickins, then Acting Resident in Plymouth took the necessary steps after his return to Benin City, also had dealings in Nigeria. The Oba had London. A report to the West African Department on 9 told him that he wanted to buy back the throne stools April 1935 shows that the Oba had seen pictures of the and was willing to pay a reasonable price.9 Dickins con- throne stools 7 which had been taken from his grandfa- tacted Gerald [Hallen] Creasy (1897-1983), who had ac- ther and knew that they were now in the possession of companied Lord Plymouth on his trip to West Africa 10 Ralph Moor. The Oba was very anxious to recover the in February 1935 and worked in the Colonial Office in two thrones, especially the smaller of the two. From a Downing Street. This street in London’s Westminster library and from the Estate Duty Office (tax office) it was district was home to the Prime Minister and the Foreign ascertained that Moor had been High Commissioner for Office. Creasy deduced from the research to that point the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria and had died on 14 and from information provided by British Museum staff 11 September 1909. Adrienne Burns, his wife and only heir- that Charles Gabriel Seligman (1873-1940), a collector, an- ess, died in 1919, a certain Nellie Newbury being legatee. thropologist and professor of ethnology at the University of London, had been involved in the auction at Sotheby’s. Therefore he now asked an acquaintance, Hanns Vischer Further details regarding Ralph Benham Raymen (1876-1945), the co-founder of the International Institute Moor (1860-1909) are to be found in Robert Home’s for African Languages and Cultures in London, to contact book City of Blood: A new look at the Benin expe- Seligman, and pointed out that the throne stools were dition of 1897. He had a successful career during discussed and reproduced in Ling Roth’s book Great Be- his approx.
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