Bracelet,

18th–19th century

Chiefs and kings of Benin Kingdom wore pairs of brass bracelets at palace ceremonies. The four men depicted on this example can be identified as Portuguese by their short beards, helmets, and clothing. Trade between West African kingdoms and the Portuguese began in the late fifteenth century. Portuguese traders were portrayed to symbolize economic and political power and were associated with the god Olókun, who crosses the water to bring wealth. The Edo royal brass-casting guilds dramatically increased their production after the fifteenth century due to the influx of brass manillas (bracelet-shaped metal currency) imported by the Portuguese. In 1897, British troops invaded the capital of Benin Kingdom to bring inland Nigeria, its commodities, and its trade routes under British colonial control. Many Benin objects came to an international market in the years following the looting that accompanied this attack. Research is underway to determine the origins of the four objects from Benin Kingdom in Princeton’s collection, including this bracelet.

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I had this idea to involve my mother in putting this caption together. I wanted her in a sort of conversation or song about the Portuguese, as portrayed on the bracelet. Well, it didn’t work out. This is because the only memory my mother had of foreigners in Benin was of the British expedition in 1897. It is surprising to me how this long and very important part of the history of the Benin Kingdom has been erased in my mother’s memory by that one event, as though that history did not exist in her young years. Although to erase would mean it was once present. So was it? I will not speculate further, but we know that it is always easier to destroy than to build.

Taiye Idahor, artist, Lagos, Nigeria