The Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) Boston returned two artefacts to the Oba of Benin in a ceremony at Nigeria House in New York City. Looted during the infamous “punitive expedition” attack by British forces on the Kingdom of Benin in 1897, these works of art—a bronze relief plaque and a terracotta and iron head—will be taken into possession by Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments and the country’s embassy in Washington, DC. They will ultimately be delivered to His Royal Majesty Omo N’Oba Ewuare II, the descendant of the monarchs of the Kingdom of Benin, which is located in present-day Nigeria.
The restituted items can both be traced to the collection of Augustus Pitt-Rivers, founder of the Pitt-Rivers Museum, now an archeological archive at the University of Oxford in England. The first piece, Commemorative Head, is a 16th- or 17th-century sculpture of a figure’s head and neck. Its last traceable point of provenance was in 1899, when it was sold by the London-based dealer William Cutter to another dealer, William Downing Webster.
Commemorative Head (16th or 17th century) MFA Boston
The second piece, Relief Plaque Showing Two Officials with Raised Swords, is a striking bronze wall hanging from the 16th century that can be traced directly to the Niger Coast Protectorate, the British-controlled military force that occupied Benin, which put it up for sale in 1898, one year after the Benin Massacre.
“I am pleased to deliver these two works of art to Prince Aghatise Erediuwa on behalf of His Royal Majesty Oba Ewuare II,” Matthew Teitelbaum, the MFA’s director, said in a statement. “As custodians of these exceptional objects for the past 12 years, it is deeply gratifying to see them returned to their rightful owner.”
After the Pitt-Rivers Museum closed in the 1960s and its collections were dispersed, the American investment titan Robert Owen Lehman acquired the two works being restituted as part of his collection of Benin artefacts. He ultimately decided to donate them, as well as the rest of his trove, to the MFA Boston in 2013 and 2018. Last April, the MFA made the unusual decision to close its gallery devoted to objects from Benin and return all but five artefacts to Lehman, since the museum did not own the pieces outright and did not have the power to unilaterally restitute them.
As of today, three artefacts from the Benin Kingdom remain in the MFA’s collection, all of which sport “inconclusive” provenance. Research is ongoing to discover the conditions under which these items left the Kingdom of Benin.
The pressure to return looted Benin artefacts has loomed large in art historical conversations over the last decade. A growing number of institutions in Europe and North America have made efforts to repatriate objects. In February of this year, the Netherlands returned 113 stolen Benin Bronzes to Nigeria; in July 2024, the Stanley Museum of Art at the University of Iowa became the first American museum to return Benin artefacts to the kingdom. In October of last year, the US Supreme Court declined to hear a case seeking to block the Smithsonian Institution from returning 29 Benin Bronzes in its collection to Nigeria.
