Brass plaque with relief figure of crocodile's head.

Collection type: Object
Description: Brass plaque with relief figure of crocodile's head.
Geographical reference: Nigeria
Africa > Western Africa > Nigeria; Benin
Cultural groups: Edo
Person: Field collector Henry Nilus Thompson; PRM source Henry Nilus Thompson
Date / Period: Date made: Circa 1500-1700
Date collected: By 1908 probably 1897
Acquisition information: Donated: 12/1908
Materials and processes: Material Brass Metal, Material Bronze Metal, Process Lost Wax Cast
Dimensions: Height 460 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1908.41.4
Research and responses: This object is one of four plaques donated by Henry Nilus Thompson to the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1908. H N Thompson was based in Burma until 1903, after which he was employed by the Forestry Department, Benin Province, Southern Nigeria and was based in Benin City. [JMC 14/04/2023]
Associated publications: Listed as no B8/65 on p. 2.1.32 in An Illustrated Catalogue of Benin Art, by Philip J. C. Dark (Boston, MA: G. K. Hall, 1982). [JC 1995] Listed on page 227 of 'Annex 4: List of plaques by institution' in The Benin Plaques: A 16th Century Imperial Monument (Routledge Research in Art History), by Kathryn Wysocki Gunsch (London: Routledge, 2018): '[V/P] V [Institution or Collection] Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford [Acc. No.] 1908.41.4 [Wide/Narr./Frag.] Narrow [H] 46.0 [W] [blank]'. [JC 18 10 2018]