recordNumber
1322803
Institution
Field Museum
Edo designations
English designations
Relief Plaque
Categories
Palace Architecture & Ornamentation
Location
1400 S Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL 60605, United States
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Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque
Relief Plaque

Iconographies

2 annotations
Water fern
Ebe Amẹ
Water Fern

Ebe Amẹ refers to a wide variety of plants, particularly the leaves of the water fern or river leaf, found in riverine areas of southern Nigeria ( ). Artists from the Igun-Ẹrọnmwọn used these as a decorative motif in the background of most Ama-Ẹrọnmwọn (bronze relief plaques). The petals of the Ebe Amẹ, like the points of the ἀghàdàgháda (crossroads), represent the four cardinal directions: north, east, south, and west. The number four plays a foundational role in the Edo calendar, which is structured around four market days ( ).

1 annotation
Ebe Amẹ
Ehẹn
Fish

Ehẹn is a general term used to describe various types of fish (Ọbazee 2025, p. 90; ). Although mudfish are one of the most common motifs in Benin art, other kinds of fish are also represented. According to Blackmun ( ), a greater variety of fish are represented on the Aken'ni Elao (carved tusks) than on other types of royal artefacts. According to Kathy Curnow ( ), fish appear on 70 Ama-Ẹrọnmwọn (bronze relief plaques), making them the most commonly represented animal. Despite their prevalence, the precise species of fish are not easy to identify due to their “generic renderings”, possibly indicating that artists did not always distinguish between specific varieties ( ). Fish are represented on the Ama-Ẹrọnmwọn both in profile and from above.

1 annotation
Ehẹn

Provenance

4 events
Production
1504 (approximate) to 1550 (approximate)
The object was produced by Unknown member(s) of the Igun-Ẹrọnmwọn guild in Benin City.
Looted
February 22, 1897 (day approximate) to June 1899 (year approximate)
The object was looted by Unknown member of the British colonial military campaign on Benin - February 1897 from Benin Kingdom.
Unknown
February 22, 1897 (day approximate) to 1905
The object is known to have come into contact with William Downing Webster, later in London.
Purchase
1905
The object was purchased by the Field Museum from William Downing Webster from London to Chicago.

Related archival documents

3 documents
See all
An archival document representing a Inventories of 257 page(s)
Inventory
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Stock books
Date
March 24, 1900 to December 31, 1903
An archival document representing a Photograph Album of 2 page(s)
Photograph Album
British Museum
W. D. Webster photograph album
Date
January 1, 1898 to December 31, 1899
An archival document representing a Sales Catalogs of 52 page(s)
Sales Catalogue
Wellcome Collection
Catalogue of ethnological specimens : European and Eastern arms & armour, Prehistoric and other curiosities / W.D. Webster, Oxford House, Bicester, Oxon., England.
Date
January 1, 1900 to December 31, 1900

Institution data

Field Museum
The data was transferred directly by the institution.
Last updated: 2022-01-21
Language: english
Institution fieldValue
catalogNumber
object id
91243
occurrenceID
object id
69072b04-c45a-4ec0-8abf-b45815965499
recordNumber
object id
1322803
culturalArtefactDescription/1/Full_Description
description
bronze plaque representing fish; figured in Webster Catalogue 4, p. 84, figure 81; Dimensions: L = 46.0 cm; 18 1/8"; W = 15.0 cm; 5 7/8"
culturalArtefactDescription/1/null
description
culturalArtefactDescription/3/Full_Description
description
culturalArtefactDescription/3/Sub_Description
description
culturalArtefactDescription/4/null
description
materials
material
metal; bronze
culturalArtefactDescription/0/Basic_Description
object type
plaque
culturalArtefactFunction
object type
culturalArtefactParts
object type
period
date made
culturalArtefactDescription/3/Technical_Description
production technique
culturalArtefactDescription/4/Technical_Description
production technique
locality
production place
Benin City
Accession info
prior source
[1018] W. D. Webster (Purchase)
culturalAffiliation
ethnic attribution
Edo
dates/accession_year
accession date
1907
identifiers/Publication_number/0
bibliography
270
identifiers/Publication_number/1
bibliography
1
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bibliography
references/reference
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license
Courtesy of: C. J. Philipp. (c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/7dadcc27-626d-44f1-89ac-3204ff76ec64 (accessed on 14 Jun 2021)
multimedia/1/citation
license
Courtesy of: C. J. Philipp. (c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/a4765a3d-c691-4809-a606-b49df3631ed1 (accessed on 11 Oct 2021)
multimedia/10/citation
license
Courtesy of: C. J. Philipp. (c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/dd2c420d-7dce-43c1-9f14-c0cb2b451fca (accessed on 11 Oct 2021)
multimedia/11/citation
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(c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/3d4386b2-3b8f-493e-a061-ec3944e925a8 (accessed on 22 Oct 2021)
multimedia/12/citation
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(c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/6ea18ce5-2aec-48db-9a22-7fad98504d7f (accessed on 24 Oct 2021)
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(c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/e6d1dbab-050c-4dba-b3bc-adad1246a3b7 (accessed on 24 Oct 2021)
multimedia/14/citation
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(c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/8be12f99-ad12-4551-97f3-7d6a16fb36a8 (accessed on 24 Oct 2021)
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(c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/86c34345-0e6a-45cd-80a1-fb529aa2b8a4 (accessed on 12 Oct 2021)
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(c) Field Museum of Natural History. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/dcddc174-f066-40a8-a387-deb341ccd19d (accessed on 12 Oct 2021)
multimedia/17/citation
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Courtesy of: R. Testa. (c) Field Museum of Natural History. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/ffaf2b9b-29dc-4d2f-bd27-0a2d32ba2e18 (accessed on 29 Oct 2021)
multimedia/18/citation
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Courtesy of: R. Testa. (c) Field Museum of Natural History. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/2ce04ab6-9b66-44dd-9874-8603c17ea776 (accessed on 29 Oct 2021)
multimedia/19/citation
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Courtesy of: R. Gross, C. J. Philipp, J. W. Kennedy. (c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/f0b0ea1e-9b76-4456-a927-968bedb58d79 (accessed on 13 Jan 2022)
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Courtesy of: C. J. Philipp. (c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/29cd9e2c-7746-4a00-b782-dc092f68093d (accessed on 14 Jun 2021)
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(c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/b33063c2-5775-4b2e-ac20-a284d7f824bd (accessed on 11 Oct 2021)
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(c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/1bc3f030-2392-4cce-9227-e8152d0f9bb8 (accessed on 11 Oct 2021)
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Courtesy of: C. J. Philipp. (c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/3c0a6188-20db-4af7-ac29-53922fc8b61f (accessed on 14 Jun 2021)
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Courtesy of: D. Kaping. (c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/9261287f-d141-4bb2-b31a-06aedf721aba (accessed on 11 Oct 2021)
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Courtesy of: D. Kaping. (c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/74a5543e-f75e-454e-97ac-84a15640b5e5 (accessed on 11 Oct 2021)
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Courtesy of: D. Kaping. (c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/03d02802-ff8c-4e6b-8548-85ecc30ba49e (accessed on 11 Oct 2021)
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Courtesy of: D. Kaping. (c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/0cdf9c03-aa88-4859-9829-671385b44948 (accessed on 11 Oct 2021)
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Courtesy of: D. Kaping. (c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/aac3cb3c-f4db-4713-a4d6-dc96bb271eef (accessed on 11 Oct 2021)
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Sensitive Content

Digital Benin collates digital material from institutions, and some of this material is inherently colonial and contains words, terms and phrases that are inaccurate, derogatory and harmful towards African and African diasporic communities. Catalogue transcriptions, book titles, exhibition titles and museum titles may contain harmful terms. We recognise the potential for the material to cause physical and mental distress as well as evoke strong emotions. Owing to the scale of the collection’s data, a process to implement sensitive-content warnings in the displayed data is still incomplete. The material within the catalogue does not represent Digital Benin’s views. Digital Benin maintains a strong anti-colonial, anti-racist position and affirms its support for centring the humanity of historically marginalised and disenfranchised communities. Read more about the background of this statement here