Benin Art

Vol.5,No.2(2014)

Abstract
The subject of this study is a description, classification, analysis and interpretation of the functions and purposes of artefacts that have preserved from the period when the Benin Empire was in rise. The study presents specific artefacts on the background of long-term historic continuity of old Nigerian cultures. The analysis focuses especially on the manufacture of bronze artefacts, their typology, purpose and functions in the Benin cultural framework. It also interprets different types of artefacts – bronze plaques, memorial heads, ivory artefacts, ancestral altars, altars to the hand or ritual poles, while not neglecting jewels, practical, decorative and ritual objects carved of wood and animal sculptures. The aim of the study is to draw attention to the fact that Benin artefacts which – as a result of the 1897 British invasion to Benin − became a part of collections in many world museums changed their original function and today they are perceived as an independent class of artefacts.

Keywords:
Benin Empire; art; artefacts; bronzes; manufacture; crafts
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