The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston formally returned two works of art to the Kingdom of Benin, in present-day Nigeria, in a ceremony held Friday, June 27, at the Nigeria House in New York City. In the presence of official Nigerian representatives and the Benin community, the two objects were presented to His Royal Highness Prince Aghatise Erediauwa and Ambassador Samson Itegboje, representative of the Embassy of Nigeria.
The initiative, symbolically important in the context of African heritage restitutions, was held at the diplomatic headquarters that houses both Nigeria’s permanent mission to the United Nations and the Nigerian Consulate General. The returned works, a 16th- or 17th-century terracotta and iron commemorative head and a 16th-century bronze relief plaque depicting two armed officials, had been looted during the 1897 British raid against the Kingdom of Benin.
Coordinating the operation was Arese Carrington, a member of the MFA advisory board. The ceremony was also attended by Ambassador Abubakar Jidda, Consul General of Nigeria in New York; museum director Matthew Teitelbaum; head of curatorial affairs and conservation Pierre Terjanian; and Victoria Reed, senior curator for provenance.
“This event is very significant,” Carrington said. “These two artifacts are returned to their true and proper owner and returned to a place where they have both cultural and spiritual value.”
“I am pleased to hand over these two works of art to Prince Aghatise Erediuwa on behalf of His Royal Majesty Oba Ewuare II,” continued Matthew Teitelbaum, director of Ann and Graham Gund 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 cooperation in this truly significant event.”
Both works have provenance records that can be traced back to colonial looting. The commemorative head was sold in 1899 in London by merchant William Cutter to William Downing Webster, who was known for buying and selling items stolen during British military campaigns in Africa. In contrast, the bronze plaque was sold in 1898 by an agent of the coastal protectorate of Niger, the territory then controlled by the British Crown that orchestrated the attack on Benin. Later, both objects were acquired by Augustus Pitt-Rivers for his museum in Farnham, England. After the museum closed in the 1960s and its collections were dispersed, the two works entered the private collection of Robert Owen Lehman, who donated them to the MFA in 2013 and 2018, respectively.
The National Commission for Museums and Monuments of Nigeria, in cooperation with the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, D.C., will oversee the transfer of the works to the country and their official redelivery to the Oba of Benin, King Omo N’Oba Ewuare II.
Although the MFA has decided to return the two works, three other objects from the Kingdom of Benin remain in its collection. According to the museum’s statement, the provenance of these works is still uncertain. They can be traced back to the European and U.S. art markets of the second half of the 20th century, but there is currently no documentation to clarify their exact origin or how they left Beninese territory. The museum reported that research on this issue is still ongoing.
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| Two works from the Kingdom of Benin returned from Boston's Museum of Fine Arts to Nigeria |
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