Loan (Loan In)
Andrews Gallery, 09/02/2017 to 09/02/2018, Benin Related Print
Event Date 9/2/2017
Author: Eleanor Wilkinson

Description (Physical description)
Etching printed in brown titled ‘Shrine of Sacrifice’ in Benin City. A bronze figure stands to the left of the image and other objects, including a sculpted head, lie on the floor. This is the third in the suite of twelve plates, where Phillips reuses a printing plate to create a second image, with elements of the first image still visible.
Event Date 14/3/2017
Author: Rachel Hand

Context (Auction / Sale)
Etching titled 'Shrine of Sacrifice'. Lent as part of the series of 10 etchings from a 1984 twelve plate suite, 'The History of the Benin Bronzes', and 5 oil paintings on canvas from the series, 'Encounters' by the artist, Tony Philips.
Event Date 17/3/2017
Author: Eleanor Wilkinson

Context (Amendments / updates)
Lent by the artist in February 2017 and purchased in November that year.
Event Date 3/8/2020
Author: rachel hand

Context (Amendments / updates)
In 1897 the British Admiralty led a punitive raid on Benin City under Admiral Sir Harry Rawson, in response to the ambush of an earlier British-led party under Acting Consul General James Philips. This followed a series of frustrated attempts to end a monopoly on palm oil and various other commodities held by the Oba (king) of Benin. Justification for this brutal event was sought, in the British press, by depicting the Oba and his people as ‘savages’ who practised human sacrifice. However, the elaborately carved ivories and cast brass plaques and sculptures seized from the royal court, and dispersed to among European museum collections via dealers such as William Webster and members of the expedition, were evidence of a sophisticated and technologically-advanced society.

This unsavoury aspect of British history was reflected on by Black British artist, Tony Phillips (b.1952) in a 1984 series of etchings, 'History of the Benin Bronzes'. In the series, Phillips adopts the unusual technique of reusing a printing plate to create a second image, with elements of the first image still visible. The ‘Shrine of Sacrifice’ s the third in the original suite of twelve plates and is set in Benin City and features a cast 'Benin bronze' figure looking out at the turrets of the Royal Palace. The schematic way in which the home environment is depicted emphasises the means by which the figure has been forcibly removed from its original context.

MAA holds only 10 etchings of the twelve suite series, scenes one and four are missing.

A version of the series 'History of the Benin Bronzes' (1984) is also held at the V&A. A series was also exhibited at Trade and Empire: Remembering Slavery', held at the Whitworth Art Gallery, June 2007 - April 2008.


Event Date 3/8/2020
Author: rachel hand