Context (Field collection)
Presumed taken during the British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin, February 1897, as William Webster became the pre-eminent dealer in looted Benin material

Event Date 1897
Author: rachel hand

Description (Physical description)
Catalogue card notes: "A roughly cast oblong pendant, showing a man standing holding a sword in either hand. A pair of human masks and a pair of coiled snakes fill the corners. (Bronze or brass)"
Event Date 6/6/2000
Author: maa

Context (Display)
Exhibited: On display in drawer 37A, under the Nigeria case, Maudslay Hall, 27/6/2001- 19/11/2015.
Event Date 19/11/2015
Author: Rachel Hand

Context (Analysis)
In January 2017, Prof. Marcos Martinon-Torres and Agnese Benzonelli, UCL Institute of Archaeology, tested this idno using a portable XRF as part of a programme of base metal analysis of Benin material.
Event Date 27/1/2017
Author: Eleanor Wilkinson

Context (Related Documents)
Catalogue card reads, in blue biro: "1902 E 433. | AFRICA | WEST AFRICA / NIGERIA / A roughly cast oblong PENDANT, showing a man standing holding a sword in either hand. A pair of human masks & a pair of coiled snakes fill the corners, (bronze or brass) (3.3" x 4.8") Benin W. Africa"

Red circular sticker in bottom right of card.
Event Date 24/8/2020
Author: Katrina Dring

Description (Labels & Markings)
Old museum label on rear of pendant notes: '1902.433 Pendant Benin W.D.Webster, Esq.'
Event Date 15/10/2021
Author: rachel hand

Description (Labels & Markings)
The number '14419' is written in white on the rear of the pendant. This is a Webster Stock no.
Event Date 15/10/2021
Author: maa

Conservation (Surface Clean)
CON.2022.5449 | Surface Clean
Event Date 11/10/2022
Author: Katerina Theodoraki

Context (Analysis)
Analysed using XRF instrumentation by Dr Agnese Benzonelli, University of Cambridge, as part of research by Prof. Marcos Martinon-Torres and Dr Agnese Benzonelli into Benin material at MAA
Event Date 13/3/2023
Author: Flo Sutton

Context (References)
Part of the Digital Benin project website available at

Noted as 'European historical accounts and Edo oral tradition alike describe how the relief plaques decorated the walls or pillars of the Benin royal palace as a piece of monumental architecture. By 1897, when British forces captured, looted and burnt down the royal palace, the plaques were no longer on display, they had been placed in storage within the palace. Gunsch’s (2017) most recent survey has indicated there are at least 850 plaques in collections globally. When exactly the plaques were made is source of debate – some have argued they were cast over a period of around 150 years from the mid-sixteenth to the end of the seventeenth century (Fagg, 1970; Dark, 1982). Meanwhile, others have attributed their manufacture to a much narrower window of around fifty years from the end of fifteenth to the mid-sixteenth century (Gunsch, 2017). Despite these differences, it is agreed that some plaques were commissioned by Ọba Esigie (who reigned c. 1516/17–1550s).'
Event Date 13/3/2023
Author: Flo Sutton

Description (Physical description)
Ama. Roughly cast oblong relief plaque or pendant, showing a man standing holding a sword in either hand. A pair of human masks and a pair of coiled snakes fill the corners. Made from bronze or brass.
Event Date 14/3/2023
Author: rachel hand

Loan (Exhibition)
Fitzwilliam Museum (UCM), 25/7/2023 to 7/1/2024, Enslavement & Resistance: Cambridge & the Black Atlantic
Event Date 25/7/2023
Author: rachel hand