A detailed look at some Benin Bronzes looted by the British in February 1897 on display at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg. Photo: Michaela Hille

 EXHIBITION

Looted Benin Bronzes on display at the Hamburg Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (MKG) has rekindled the debate about when the stolen treasures will be returned to Nigeria.

BY KAZAD

HAMBURG, GERMANY— In the last two decades, there have been debates about when treasures and artifacts looted by the British colonialists from Nigeria, Benin, in particular, would be returned. While many countries where these looted treasures are located have continued to bury their heads in the sand, others are ceasing the bull by the horn in their effort to return the stolen treasures.  The latest is the Hamburg Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (MKG). The museum is in a dilemma about three Benin bronzes in its collection, which evidently were looted from the Kingdom of Benin by British troops in 1897. The Kingdom of Benin is now part of Nigeria.

The museum’s concern about the three bronzes came into focus in February when the three objects became the focus on Looted Art? The Benin Bronzes, an exhibition that is part of an ongoing series at the museum. The pieces were presented without appropriate context because in the “culture of their home country, the Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria, the objects function to help lend people an identity,” and “not considered works of art according to the European understanding of the term.” In light of this, the three Benin bronzes will be passed on to Hamburg’s ethnological museum, which has even more Benin artifacts in its collection, after the exhibition. In a statement, MKG explains that it is passing the three bronzes to Hamburg’s ethnological museum because it is unable to provide the appropriate context for their permanent display. The Hamburg’s ethnological museum, the statement notes, will be able to “provide the necessary framework for further research into the origin of the bronzes as well as transnational communication with Nigeria and the royal dynasty”.

One of the Benin Bronzes on display at the Museum- für- Kunst- und- Gewerbe Hamburg. The MKG‘s founding director is believed to have acquired around 50 Benin bronzes. Image: MKG

The Benin bronzes got to MKG through Justus Brinckmann, MKG’s founding director.  Brinckmann profited from Hamburg’s port and its links to trading companies based in Africa.  More than 50 bronzes are believed to have passed through the hand of the Justus Brinckmann, who, according to the MKG “was among the first to recognize the artistic value and precision of these items.”

Of the 50 bronzes that passed through Brinckmann, only three pieces remained at MKG. A major part of the bronzes that went through him became part of the collection of the Museum für Völkerkunde Hamburg, while other objects were resold. With proceeds from these sales, Brinckmann funded the acquisition by MKG of the Relief Panel with Three Dignitaries (1575–1600) and the Relief Panel with a Battle Scene (1600–1625). Museum benefactor Theodor Heye financed the purchase of the Head of an Oba (1600–1625).

While it is a foregone conclusion that the three Benin bronzes are part of Benin looted treasures, the museum does not have any immediate plan to return them to Nigeria. MKG director Sabine Schulze noted in the exhibition catalog that returning the artifacts would amount to breaking with precedence.  “Hamburg could take a pioneering role and return the first bronzes to their country of origin. That would be a signal!” she wrote.

However, Sabine Schulze is very candid about the challenges and obstacle that would have to be surmounted before the looted artifacts are returned.  According to her, MKG cannot decide alone over the future of these objects—not in the MKG, not in Hamburg”.  Furthermore, she emphasized that the fate of the artifacts will also be determined through “transnational discussions and models of conduct” and “joint decisions”.

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The ethnological museum is a major player in what happens to the looted Benin bronzes and artifacts. Led by the African art expert Barbara Plankensteiner, the museum is a member of the Benin Dialogue Group of European museums, a group determined to allow Nigerians experience some of the Benin bronzes looted by the British.   Formed in 2007, the group is planning a permanent display in Benin City of works looted by the British, on rotating loan.

An estimated 4,000 bronze and ivory artifacts were stolen in total. These artifacts are dispersed across the globe, with many at British museums. In 2010, the MKG began systematically researching the provenance of its collection. Using funding from the Magdeburg-based German Lost Art Foundation, the museum has been providing its finding through the Looted Art? series exhibitions.  In 2016, the museum held a symposium on silver looted from Jewish collections by the Nazis. The museum is in possession of 3,000 seized silver objects.

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