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artists would continue working for the oba under
the direction of a new Ineh n’Igun Eronmwon.
The close control over the dimensions
of the plaques12 is further evidence of guildbased
production methods, where the exact
size of the wax models or clay molds could be
compared against each other.
DISPLAY
Contemporary understanding of the sixteenth
century audience hall where the plaques
were displayed is limited by fragmentary evidence.
FIG. 14 (left): Double-Woven
Pattern plaque: three offi cials.
Benin, Nigeria. 16th century.
Copper alloy. H: 48.3 cm.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Robert Owen
Lehman Collection, inv. L-G 7.31.2012.
Photograph © 2017 Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.
FIG. 15 (above): Detail of a
plaque showing raised headdress
feather and support strut.
Benin, Nigeria. 16th century.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Robert Owen
Lehman Collection, inv. L-G 7.29.2012.
Photograph by Kathryn Gunsch, used
courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.
FIG. 16 (right): Double-Woven
Pattern plaque: warrior and
attendants. Benin, Nigeria.
16th century.
Copper alloy. H: 47.6 cm.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
gift of Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls, 1990,
inv. 1990.332.
Photograph courtesy of metmuseum.org.
Dapper’s account of the palace, quoted
above, establishes that the plaques were hung on
the pillars supporting the roof in the oba’s audience
hall and that this hall was approximately
the same size as the Exchange at Amsterdam.
Although the Exchange has been destroyed, we
know that its dimensions were approximately
60 by 30 meters. In a description of his visit
in 1702, when the plaques were no longer displayed,
visitor David von Nyendael stated that
there were fi fty-eight twelve-foot-high supporting
pillars in the fi rst court he entered and that
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