Bronze sculpture of West African King returns to Nigeria
A bronze sculpture of a West African king, which has been in the collection of a Rhode Island museum for more than 70 years, is among 31 items of cultural value returned to the Nigerian government.
The sculpture, named Head of a King or Oba, housed at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum (RISD), was among the items presented to the Nigerian National during a ceremony at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC on Tuesday. Collections have been transmitted.
The Benin Bronzes were stolen in 1897 when British colonial troops raided and plundered the Kingdom of Benin, now located in present-day Nigeria. “In 1897, the ‘head of an Oba’ was stolen from the Oba Ovonranwmen Royal Palace,” RISD Museum acting director Sarah Ganz Blythe said in a statement.
“The RISD Museum has partnered with the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments to repatriate this sculpture to the people of Nigeria it belongs to,” said Blythe. Of the pieces stolen in the late 1800s, 29 were voted on in June by the Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents to return to Nigeria and one item from the National Gallery of Art, officials said.
Bronze sculpture of West African King returns to Nigeria
“Today we face historical injustice by returning the Benin Bronzes, wonderful examples of Benin culture and history,” wrote Lonnie Bunch III, founder and director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, on Twitter.
