"For sale by auction in London, a bronze figure, 25 inches high, made in Benin city, West Africa, some time during the second half of the 16th century." "The price given, L185,000." "The greatest sum ever paid for a work of tribal art." "(Tribal drumming and singing)" "These bronze pieces and some 2,000 others like them arrived in Europe in 1897 and they created a sensation." "For they were so accomplished and so unlike the wooden masks and fetishes that explorers had brought back from Africa before then that many people said that they could not be purely African in origin." "They came to London as a result of a series of misunderstandings and murders that began here on the West African coast close to the mouth of the Niger river." "Europeans have been coming to the West African coast for centuries." "The first were the Portuguese back in the 16th century but the British weren't far behind." "And I'm standing in the remains of one of the British trading posts that were put up here at the end of the 19th century." "To this place came loads of palm oil and palm kernels, most of which was shipped to Liverpool for making into soap." "And it came from the hinterland, at that time it was a little... known country and ruled by a number of African kings, the most powerful of whom was the Oba of Benin." "The first Portuguese visitors had brought back many stories of the 0ba's military might, and thought him so powerful that they took back an ambassador to Lisbon to be received by the King of Portugal." "The 0ba was a human god so sacred that no commoner could look in his face." "0n the few occasions he left his palace, he was preceded by musicians and leopards, the symbols of his power." "He owned dwarfs just as European kings did at that time." "He also practised human sacrifice in order to sweeten his land with blood." "Benin remained almost unchanged right into the 19th century and then, in January 1897, the Vice Consul of a British trading settlement on the coast decided to visit the 0ba." "The 0ba had recently accepted a trading agreement with the British but he wasn't keeping it." "No palm nuts or palm oil were coming out of his territory so the 0ba had to be reprimanded." "The traditional way to reach the city was to travel up the mangrove..." "lined creeks of the Niger delta to the village of 0goton which marked the frontier of the Benin kingdom." "Messengers had been sent ahead by canoes with gifts to tell the 0ba that the British Vice Consul proposed to visit him." "But as they travelled up river they met messengers on their way back with a reply." "The 0ba did not wish to see the British at this particular time." "The party reached 0goton on the afternoon of January 3rd." "0n the way up they had been collecting carriers and now they had the 240 men that they needed to carry all their supplies." "But here there were more messages from the 0ba telling them not to come." "The local people gave them vehement warnings." ""It would be very unwise to go to Benin now," they said," ""for the 0ba was celebrating Igwe."" "Igwe was and is the most important of all Benin rituals." "It was last held in 1964 when these pictures were taken." "During it the 0ba salutes the shrines of the earlier god kings, his ancestors, and renews his divine power." "He parades and dances decked with coral crown and tunic with ivory bracelets on his arms and bronze masks at his waist." "And sacrifices are made." "0nly by blood may the land be cleansed of corruption and kept pure." "Special plants and earths are brought from all over the kingdom and pounded together with blood to make a magic medicine with which the 0ba will be anointed to give him strength." "And in 1897, as in previous years, the climax of Igwe was to be the sacrifice of a man." "It may be that the 0ba was trying to prevent the British Vice Consul from seeing these grisly rites." "At any rate his messengers did their best to persuade the British to delay, if only by a few days." "But Vice Consul Phillips was not to be put off and with his British companions and 240 carriers he left 0goton at seven o'clock on the morning of the next day, January 4th." "Their only weapons were revolvers and those they packed away in their baggage to emphasise that they were coming in peace." "Yet they knew that the sacred and secret rituals of Igwe were continuing in the city even as they marched." "This is the path they took." "It is so thin and narrow that they had to march in single file." "And it wound through the thickest bush." "The Benin chiefs, without the 0ba's knowledge, had prepared an ambush." "And at three o'clock in the afternoon of January 4th" "Vice Consul Phillips led his men straight into it." "Europeans and Africans were slaughtered indiscriminately." "Only two Europeans escaped." "The Benin warriors hunted them through these thick forests and came within yards of them several times." "They had nothing to eat and the only thing to drink was the dew from the leaves." "One of them was badly wounded." "But after five days they reached the river." "The wounded man's arm had already turned gangrenous, both bodies were black with thorns." "The news of the massacre had gone ahead of them and on January 11th, only seven days after the massacre, it was in London." "(Big Ben chimes)" "A punitive expedition had to be mounted." "The British government summoned ships from the Cape in the Mediterranean." "Marines were dispatched from England." "By the first week of February, 1,500 men had began the march on Benin." "The battle was fierce but inevitably short." "The Beni tribesmen had no chance against Maxim guns and rockets." "0n February 18th, after four days of sporadic fighting and only six weeks after the massacre, the British took Benin city." "In the abandoned palace, the victorious solders found wonders... and horrors." "The 0ba, in panic at the impending revenge of the British, had, it seemed, embarked on an orgy of human sacrifice in an endeavour to stave off disaster and the bodies of the dead lay in pits beneath the trees" "on which many of them had been crucified." "The victors posed for their photographs in the palace courtyards." "Stacked behind them, objects from the palace shrines that they were to bring back to Britain either as personal souvenirs or official booty." "There was an astonishing number." "Sculptures of ivory, wooden masks, huge elephant tasks covered along their length with elaborate scenes." "But above, all there were bronzes." "The finest were of astonishing quality." "Was it possible that the sculptors of this remote kingdom, buried in the West African forest, had produced entirely by themselves, objects of such technical skill and sculpturing inspiration that they rivalled the most accomplished works of Europe?" "There were many in Europe who were to doubt it." "The Portuguese, after all, had once had great influence here." "Surely it must have been they who taught the Beni how to make such splendid things." "The British government, which was concerned with neither romance nor scholarship, put the loot on sale in order to defray the cost of the expedition to the taxpayer." "And today the treasure of Benin is dispersed among museums and collections all over the world... in Britain and America," "Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden, France and Australia." "The second biggest collection is now back in Nigeria." "But none of the objects have returned to the place from which they were taken." "The palace of the 0ba of Benin." "A few weeks afterwards, the chief who led the ambush was tried and was hanged." "0thers who had fled with the 0ba returned and sued for forgiveness." "The 0ba himself was found innocent of plotting the ambush and sent to exile." "He die in 1913 and that year his son, supported by the British administration, came back to rule again in Benin." "Benin today is one of the cities of Nigeria." "The old palace was largely destroyed but it has been rebuilt on the same site and it still echoes with chants in praise of the god king of the Beni." "(Chanting)" "Every morning, the palace chiefs arrive to take part in Imaton, the ceremony at which day after day they reaffirm their loyalty to the 0ba." "Just as European monarchs had keepers of the wardrobe, masters of the privy purse and gentleman ushers of the sword of state, so the 0ba is surrounded by aristocrats who have been given titles because of the services they or their ancestors have rendered to the 0ba." "Each wears a necklace of coral beads that were probably brought here from the Mediterranean by the Portuguese and have ever since been handed out by the 0ba to his noblemen as insignia that must be returned to the palace treasury on their death." "Chief 0mizuzi remembers the punitive expedition and recalls how his father hid him and his mother in the bush." "His body is covered with faded tattoos, the signs of his aristocratic rank." "(Speaking pidgin English)" "They cut him?" "They do it now?" " Knife." " With a knife?" "Does it..." "Does it pain much?" " The pain." " The pain?" " Too much." " The pain too much?" "Every morning, the court herald makes his rounds of the palace shrines, reporting to the spirits that dwell there that all is well in the city and giving praise to the 0ba." "(Chanting)" "In their quarters, pages are preparing themselves." "They were sent to the court by their parents when they were small children as a gesture of loyalty to the 0ba." "They wear brass anklets to show their status and seniority." "The costume is derived from the doublets worn by the Portuguese 400 years ago." "A dwarf still lives in the palace, serving the 0ba." "He has the responsibility of looking after the shrines." "Leather caskets containing cola nuts are brought from special storage places to be used in the Imaton ceremony." "It is now almost eleven o'clock." "The chiefs of the Ibiwe society have been singing for hours." "It is their responsibility to make sure that the palace is always alive with music and echoing with praise for the god king." "And now an announcement." "The 0ba is in his palace." "The doors will now be barred." "Imaton is now to begin." "In a reception chamber, the palace chiefs await the 0ba's arrival." "His highness 0ba Akenzua II, the grandson of the 0ba deposed in 1897, who has reigned here since 1993." "And now the chiefs one by one declare their loyalty." "(Drumming and chanting)" "Imaton ends each day with a ritual performed by this man, the court herbalist." "After its completion he dances." "He has anointed the 0ba's body with medicine in order to renew his strength and thus the strength of the Beni people." "It was a part of the ceremony that only the most senior of palace chiefs may witness." "The herbalist's cloak is sewn with magic charms... skulls of animals, pieces of horn and fragments of metal." "0ver his shoulder, the medicine from which he draws his power." "Meanwhile, outside the palace the 0ba's subjects are assembling." "In the old days, he was the absolute ruler, dispensing judgment on any problem that his people brought to him." "Today the law is administered through courts but many still prefer to seek solutions to their disputes from the 0ba and will abide by what he says." "This man has come from an outlying village to seek permission to hold a religious festival, but because he's a commoner he may not addresses the 0ba directly and the request has to be made through one of the palace chiefs." ""I agree," says the 0ba." ""Give him one coral bead as a token of my permission. "" "In addition to religious protocol, the 0ba also gives rulings on civil disputes." "This woman has been brought here because she had attacked one of her neighbours and broken her fingers." ""0ne of my children was sick," she explains, in her defence." ""I consulted the oracle and I was told that my neighbour had caused the sickness" ""with some of her friends." ""She wouldn't tell me who the others were and that's how the trouble started. "" "The chief suggests that someone should go down to the village to sort things out." ""No," says the woman, "I know my rights, I want things settled here. "" "Beyond the reception chambers lies the harem." "0nce 0ba had over a hundred wives." "Here the loyal children are brought up." "When they are ten or so years old, they must leave and never return, for no man other than the 0ba and one court official may enter here." "The queens have their own distinctive hairstyles which none but they may wear." "They also have their own shrines, where they and their friends make sacrifices." "(Singing)" "(Rattling and drumming)" "The particular divinity they worship here is 0lopan, the spirit of water and therefore of fertility." "(Bell ringing)" ""We've given you the blood of a guinea fowl," says one, "now send us your blessings."" ""Thank you, queen of the water," says another, "for delivering safely of a child."" "Now it is not possible to enter this chamber until you knock three times." "The most sacred shrines belong to the 0ba himself, and I am taken to see those by one of his sons." "I am going to knock at the door three times before I open it." "Prince Humphrey Akenzua is a graduate in anthropology from a Nigerian university." "He's also a believer both in Christianity and the traditional practices of his people." "This is where we keep our shrine for the departed Oba or the late Obas." "Now, this chamber is very important to us, it's always a strict chamber." "Here we have a shrine." "One for Adolo and this one here is for my grandfather, Eweka II." "This is the traditional setting in the palace where you have the Oba at the middle surrounded by his chiefs." "Now the model you have here is a bronze cast of my grandfather, Eweka II." "Now, you see, we have two chiefs here, the front chief carrying what we call asa." "In time of warfare, these materials are usually used to guard the Oba from attack." "Oba was all the time a warrior." " And what are these?" " These are thunderbolts." " Thunderbolts?" " Thunderbolts, yes." "We collect them for our shrine because we believe that they are very, very powerful." "And do they come from the sky?" "Yeah, they come from the sky." " They look like axes, don't they?" " They do." "But I think..." "they have a natural shape, it is not carved." " These are not carved by human hand?" " No, it's not carved by human hand." "Because we find such things elsewhere in the world, made of stone." "And they're used for cutting." "But here that is not so?" "No, it's not so." " They're usually dug from the ground." " I see." " What is this, Humphrey?" " This a bell." "In bronze." "Now, this bell and the rattle stick are used simultaneously during any ceremony or festival." "This one is used to summon the spirit of the ancestors by ringing it." " The other one is used to confirm a prayer..." " Yeah." "...in the shrine by shaking it like this." "And can anybody, anybody have heads like that and tusks?" " Only the chiefs." " The chiefs?" " As well as the Oba?" " Chiefs and the Oba." "And when was this shrine set up?" " Er, this shrine was set up by my father." " Yes, when?" " Um, about 1933 when he came to the throne." " Yes." " And were all the objects made at that time?" " No." "Some of the objects were made before that time." "Because casting a brass is a long process." "It is not possible to make a brass cast within a short time." "Then, are there bronzes being made now for the shrine of your father when he should die?" "I would regard that question as..." "I can't reveal it." " It's a secret between the court." " I see." "I wouldn't say my father will die in any case." "And I don't want to reveal the secret of the Beni people." " I quite understand." " It would annoy them." "It's the beginning of the Nigerian new year, the time when Igwe and the most important of all the ceremonials used to be held." "Quite unexpectedly, the entire congregation of one of the city's Christian churches has come to pay their respects to the 0ba in front of the palace." "(Singing)" "(Man) Hallelu." "(All) Halleluiah!" "(Priest) We thank God for the peace given to this city and the whole Nigeria in particular." "(Man translates)" "Their clergyman comes from another part of Nigeria and doesn't speak Beni, so his message has to be translated." "...may strengthen our Oba and endow him with more abundant life and peace." "(Man translates)" "So that his reign may be well established in this city and throughout Nigeria." "(Man translates)" "And we pray also on behalf of the chiefs that they may be in cooperation with our Father and everything may be going on smoothly." "(Man translates)" "So that everything may be done successfully for the glory of God." " Happy new year." " (All) Happy new year." " Happy new year." " Happy new year." " Happy new year!" " (All) Happy new year!" " Hallelu." " (All) Halleluiah!" " Hallelu." " (All) Halleluiah!" "(Singing)" "Like his ancestors, the 0ba's divine status requires that he should only publicly visit the outside world on special occasions, and I asked him how he spent his time in the palace." "Well, in the usual way." "Sometimes I used to play billiards." "I play I billiards at night." "I hear you have a great reputation, your highness, for playing billiards." "Well, I used to play but I have not played for quite a long time." "Your highness, you also play a great part in the religious life of your people." "Oh yes, oh yes." "I noticed that you have a copy of the holy bible." "Do you have the Qur'an too?" " Muslim?" " Yes." "Yes, I have that." "So would you regard yourself as the head of both the Christian church and the Muslim church and the Hindu church and also your own religion?" "The Oba is the religious head of all the people of Benin." "Your highness, many of us know about the bronzes that have come from your kingdom, they are very famous." "Can you tell me why they are so important to the kingdom of Benin?" "Because..." "There were... record of events." "When British troops came here in 1897... they carried them away." "Um, what kind of events, your highness, were represented in those plaques?" " Any event of record." " Yes." "Such as you are here now." "If it were the old days, you would be recorded in the same way as we had recorded the Queen of England about 1956 or so." "That is the last one that your highness has commissioned?" "Yes, that's right." "The plaques... about 1,000 of them... were found by the punitive expedition stacked in a store room." "Apparently they had been taken down some 200 years before." "0nce they had covered the pillars of the palace and together they gave a detailed picture of the Benin court at the height of its glory and power." "(Drumming)" "0n the few occasions that the 0ba left his palace, his sacred body had to be protected from the rays of the sun by the shields of his chiefs." "His attendants going before him carry leather caskets containing cola nuts for the 0ba to distribute as a gesture of patronage just as he does today at the daily Imaton ceremony." "(Bell ringing)" "0ne of the most technically accomplished of all the plaques, a masterpiece of bronze cast as art in high relief." "It shows the 0ba fulfilling his sacred duties by sacrificing a cow." "The roof of the palace at that time was surmounted by a huge bronze bird, below it a great python, also of bronze, sprawls down over the wooden shingles." "The pillars supporting the roof were covered with plaques and the entrance to the palace was permanently guarded by warriors." "0ne 0ba was to said to be able to raise an army of 100,000 men within 24 hours." "Many plaques record their victories." "This is a prisoner with a brutal sword wound across his chest." "The scars on this man's face show him to be an Ebo from one of the tribes to the east of Benin with whom Beni had many wars." "When this plaque was made, the Portuguese had been in touch with the kingdom for something like a century and they too appear on the plaques." "They're shown with such accuracy that's it's possible to date them from the details of their clothing." "This man must have been in Benin in the early 16th century." "He's armed with an elegant sword." "But the Portuguese had more advanced and effective weapons than that." "They brought cannons and muskets, the first guns that the Beni had seen, and they had crossbows." "The 0ba persuaded them to join his army and with them by his side he became one of the most powerful rulers in West Africa, conquering an empire that stretched for 200 miles along the coast from the frontier of present day Dahomey to the banks of the Niger river." "The Portuguese were seeking ivory, pepper and above all, slaves." "The 0ba supplied them and in exchange obtained metal." "0ne of the attendants waiting on this chief carries what was to become the standard currency on the coast..." "a European... made ingot of bronze." "A manila." "And metal from overseas is still eagerly sought... after today." "This is Igun Street in Benin city, where bronze figures are still being cast." "0nce they were made only for the 0ba." "Today new versions of the old images are being made for sale to visitors but also to townsfolk who take pride in having them in their houses." "The craft is a hereditary one." "The head of this workshop, the master bronze caster, is 0siosefe Emova." "His apprentices and helpers each with his particular job in the long process, are all members of his family..." "sons or nephews." "The chief of all bronze casters, Chief Ine, is a frequent visitor here as he is to all workshops in Igun Street." "0siosefe moulds sheet wax round the core." "He usually does this skilled work of modelling himself." "Making the core of rough sandy clay is a relatively easy job which is done by the apprentices." "The core is only shaped in the simplest way." "All the detail will be worked by 0siosefe in the wax with which it will be covered." " Chief, what is this going to be?" " It's going to be a figure of Oba." "A figure of the Oba." " The Oba of Benin." " Yes." " This is wax, huh?" " This is wax." " And where does the wax come from?" " It comes from the tree." "The tree?" "Where they make their cell in the hole of the tree." " Then you pick out the cell of the beeswax." " How were the old ones done?" " Were they done in the same way?" " The old ones, same way." "Those things they're called antiquities." "Yes, they are." "Although the process is essentially the same the antiquities differed in that most of the detailed work was done on the core itself, which was then covered with only the thinnest layer of the wax." "Today the wax is not only thick enough to be modelled, but it's decorated with thin wax threads made by other apprentices." "This will be the 0ba's headdress." "And this the coral bead coat that the 0ba wears on important state occasions." "The wings of the coral crown..." "an elaboration of the traditional regalia that wasn't introduced until the early 19th century." "There you are." "When the wax figure is finished it must be carefully covered with clay." "This is a crucial stage for the finer grain the clay covering, the more accurate will be the impression it takes of the wax beneath and the smoother the surface of the finished bronze." "In the old days, this must have been done with the greatest delicacy." "When the whole figure... clay coating and all..." "has dried in the sun, the base is scraped clean to expose the ring of wax." "These wax rods will form channels through the clay, down which molten metal will flow into the mould." "The clay investing them will also later hold the centre core in place." "And now the whole mould is heated so that the wax melts." "Some of it turns to vapour, the rest must be poured out to be used again." "During the casting process, molten metal will be poured into the mould to take up the space once occupied by this wax." "Work on the day of casting starts before dawn." "A huge fire is built in the compound, for the moulds must be heated to a high temperature if they're not to crack when the metal is poured into them." "For metal, 0siosefe uses whatever is to hand." "The Biafran war produced a great windfall for the bronze casters and 0siosefe was already getting gloomy about where he would get such high quality metal once the supplies of spent cartridges were exhausted." "Castings from old engines are also used." "They have to be heated to make them brittle enough to be smashed into small pieces that would go into the crucibles." "And now, offerings must be made to 0gon the god of iron, and patron divinity of all bronze casters to ensure that the work that day will go well." "A cola nut is blessed in the name of 0gon and handed around to all who will be engaged in the business of casting." "Raw spirit is spilled it on the shrine." "While the crucibles are filled with fragments of metal and flattened cartridges, 0siosefe quietly goes to the fire where the moulds are still heating and makes the final libation over them." "To produce the very high temperatures necessary to melt the metal in the crucibles, a furnace and bellows have to be used." "The hot moulds are brought from the fire to be as close as possible to the furnace." "And now the crucial moment of pouring." "The atmosphere is tense." "(Excited shouting)" ""The mould has cracked," someone shouts, "the metal's leaking out." ""We need more metal."" ""We don't, it's all right," says 0siosefe. "Leave it."" "20 minutes later the mould is cool enough to be taken from the ground." "If 0siosefe was wrong and the mould has leaked, the casting will be incomplete and useless." "As the face of 0ba's head gradually appears, it seems all right but you can't be sure until the outer covering has been completely cleaned off." "It is complete and it's finished off with a file." "Perhaps it is this stage in the process which robs modern pieces of the sensuous subtlety of the ancient ones." "No file has altered the delicate contours of this image." "Until the end of the 16th century, metal was in such short supply that the craftsmen were extremely sparing with it." "The bronze of the earliest pieces is of egg... shell thinness and the delicacy with which the original wax was modelled and covered in clay was so great that little filing was necessary." "So the disciplines imposed by a scarcity of metal contributed to the development of a style which surely represents one of the high watermarks of sculptural inspiration in all Africa." "European experts might argue about the origin of this superb technique but to the Beni there is no mystery." "Their traditions state that it was taught to them by bronze casters from the sacred city of lfe to which the kings of Benin paid homage." "But no one in lfe today casts bronzes and there was little solid evidence than anyone ever did until in 1938, digging the foundations for his house, a man discovered 18 superb bronze heads." "They were lying close to the palace of the king, the 0ni of lfe." "According to an lfe tradition, the god king in ancient times was ritually murdered after reigning for seven years." "It was dangerous perhaps to allow the body of a god to age like a mortal man's for it might risk the failing of the land's fertility." "These noble life... sized heads were probably displayed during the funeral rituals, wearing the royal crown as symbols of the immortality of divine kingship." "Archaeological evidence suggests that these bronzes were made several centuries before the Portuguese arrival in West Africa, perhaps as early as the 12th century." "So wherever else the tradition has its roots, it's not in 15th... century Portugal." "But were they also the inspiration for the bronzes of Benin?" "There is more than tribal tradition to link the two." "This little figure was dug up in the palace in Benin but from the regalia on its chest it can be recognised as an image of the 0ni of lfe in full ceremonial robes." "And exactly the same regalia is modelled on one of the bronzes that was found in lfe itself." "So here almost certainly is the source of the techniques and traditions of the bronze casters of Benin." "But to see these lovely things, you have to come to Africa for all but one of them lie here in the country of their origin." "Unlike their descendants, the Benin bronzes, which as a result of that rash expedition by Vice Consul Phillips back in 1897 are still scattered through out the world." "(Beni people singing)"