The Benin plaque "four pages in front of a palace scene" occupies a special position among all Benin plaques because it shows the palace itself. Partly greenish oxidised patina, right foot of the left young man and the so-called spear (by Gunsch) of the man next to him broken off.


Engraving of the Benin City palaceof the Oba by Olfert Dapper (ca 1635-1689), 1686

The plaque „four pages in front of a palace scene“ in the British Museum (British Museum Af1898,0115.46) is one of two known plaques to depict the interior of the palace and the installation of the plaques themselves. … A plaque with a similar composition held in the Berlin Ethnologisches Museum likewise shows four young men before a palace veranda.“ Gunsch, 62

Two Benin plaques depicting the palace provide the only extant evidence of the plaques´ original installation. … (They) are therefore highly useful testimonies …“ Gunsch, 140

„Four young men flank an entrance to the palace compound or to a courtyard within it. The two outermost figures are emada, recognizable by their nudity. Wearing a single strand of beads around their neck, (simple armlets,) and a bead at the end of the braided strands framing their faces, the pages carry leopard-skin fans in their right hands. Between the emada, two young men stand holding shields and spears. Although the plain baldric and patterned skirts they wear are both shown tied at their left, the artist depicts the figures as mirror-images, both holding their spears closest to the entrance and their shields in the opposite hand. The rich patterning of their skirts and their more elaborate, braided hairstyle suggests their higher rank..."

What is perhaps most interesting about this scene is its setting. Unlike the vast majority of the plaque corpus, the artist has fully defined the figures´ surroundings, and it is clear that the four young men are at court, prepared to serve as guards and attendants. The particular section of the court they inhabit may also be explicit.“ Gunsch, 62

Contrary to Dr. Gunch probably half a dozen plates of this motif are known. Gunsch's work refers to the plates that were stolen in 1897 and does not take into account what was evacuated immediately before the conquest of Benin City or what was in neighboring locations outside of the capital of Benin. wj

According of "Flange patterns by sub-type" Annex 2 Gunsch this plate belongs to "Rounded corner, double woven British Museum f1898,0115.112 left



https://jaenicke-njoya.com/Bi479/pages/DSC04916.htm

TL-analysis Kotalla: 340 years (+/- 23%).

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Height: 49 cm
Weight: 9,2 kg