Benin chair seat

This carved panel was a decorative stool seat. The precise date of the carving is uncertain. It was carved by the Omada, who were the palace servants of the king of Benin. If it dates from an earlier period, around 1870, it is likely to be a depiction of an African tribunal. However, it is more probable that it represents, through the device of an earlier conquest, the punitive expedition carried out the British against Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi, the King of Benin in 1897. Under the authority of Ralph Moore, the British governor of the Niger Coast Protectorate, Lt James Phillips, the acting consul in the Niger Delta, along with ten soldiers entered the independent Kingdom of Benin to demand an end to the customs duties collected by the Oba. They were attacked as they made their way to the capital. The British responded by sending 1200 men who took control of the kingdom in 17 days, despite fierce resistance. To pay for the expedition, British forces looted Benin’s bronze art treasures – the famous Benin Bronzes – and sold them to collectors in Europe. Part of the Michael Graham-Stewart slavery collection.