Yinka Olatunbosun

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), today returned two works of art from the Benin Kingdom to His Royal Majesty, Omo N’Oba Ewuare II, Oba of Benin, in a ceremony at the Nigeria House in New York City, which houses both the permanent mission of Nigeria to the United Nations and Consulate General of Nigeria.

The works were presented to His Royal Highness Prince Aghatise Erediauwa and H.E. Ambassador Samson Itegboje of the Embassy of Nigeria. The National Commission for Museums and Monuments, working with the Embassy of Nigeria in Washington, D.C., will take possession of these two works and coordinate their handling, care, transit to Nigeria, and delivery to the Oba of Benin.

The transfer, coordinated and facilitated by Dr. Arese Carrington, a member of the MFA’s Board of Advisors, was witnessed by HRH Prince Aghatise Erediauwa, H.E. Ambassador Samson Itegboje and Dr. Carrington, H.E. Ambassador Abubakar Jidda, Consul General of Nigeria, New York; Matthew Teitelbaum, the MFA’s Ann and Graham Gund Director; Pierre Terjanian, the MFA’s Chief of Curatorial Affairs and Conservation; and Victoria Reed, the MFA’s Senior Curator for Provenance. Some members of the Benin community in New York were also present to witness this return.

“I am pleased to deliver these two works of art to Prince Aghatise Erediuwa on behalf of HM Oba Ewuare II,” said Matthew Teitelbaum, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the MFA. “As custodians of these exceptional objects for the past 12 years, it is deeply gratifying to see them returned to their rightful owner. I want to thank Dr. Arese Carrington, Ambassador Itegboje and Consul General Jidda for their partnership in this truly meaningful event.”

In a press statement issued by the Director of Marketing and Communications, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, research on these looted artifacts is still ongoing.

Looted by British soldiers during the notorious military attack on the Kingdom of Benin in 1897, the objects that were restituted are a terracotta and iron Commemorative Head from the 16th or 17th century and a 16th–century bronze Relief Plaque Showing Two Officials with Raised Swords. The Commemorative Head can be traced to the London art market in 1899, when it was sold by dealer William Cutter to another dealer, William Downing Webster, along with other artwork looted from Benin. The Relief Plaque can be traced directly to the Crown Agent of the Niger Coast Protectorate (the British protectorate state, in what is today Nigeria, whose forces led the attack on Benin in 1897), who sold it in 1898. Both works of art were purchased by Augustus Pitt-Rivers (1827–1900) for the Pitt-Rivers Museum in Farnham, England.

That museum closed in the 1960s and its collections were dispersed. Robert Owen Lehman acquired the two works as he built his collection of Benin Kingdom artwork between the 1960s and 1980s, and donated them to the MFA in 2013 and 2018.

Three works of art from the Benin Kingdom remain in the MFA’s collection. The provenance of these items is inconclusive. They can be traced to the European and American art markets in the second half of the 20th century, and it is not known for certain when or how they left Benin.

The return of the artifacts to Oba of Benin is part of the cultural restitution that is championed by the Nigerian government to ensure that history and cultural heritage is preserved and respected.