ate 
CAST-METAL WORK FROM BENIN. 67 
The fact of there being, on some of the plaques, persons represented as 
attired in the dress of the seventeenth century (one of which is figured in the 
Illustrated London News, Oct. 16, 1897); and that the statuette in the Mayer 
Museum (Figs. 5, and 6) holds a flint-lock gun, prevents our dating those par- 
ticular figures earlier than the year 1630 (the date of the invention of the 
flint-lock), and not improbably considerably later. The great similarity in 
the designs and the general appearance of the work, strongly incline one to 
believe that they were all made, if not by the same individual artist, at all 
events, by, or under the direction of, others who had acquired his technique 
and touch. By the courtesy of the Proprietors of the Illustrated London News 
I am able to reproduce (Fig. 14) one of the plaques in the British Museum, 
to show the similarity of its work to that in Fig. 12. The same touch is 
evident on our supposed royal figures as on many of the plaques. 
Such details as the emblematic objects round the large tusk-holders 
(Figs. 7, and 8), show that whoever the artist was who designed these works, 
he had become well acquainted with the religious, or fetish, feelings and 
ideas of the people, their ceremonies and customs, and with the minutest 
details of their various garments, ornaments, and accoutrements. 
The period over which their manufacture extended could not, it seems to 
me, have been of long duration ; for though the artists, who fashioned these 
metal works, were influenced by, or copied, foreign importations, the whole 
series strikes us as presenting little evidence of the changes that one would 
expect, if long periods elapsed between the earliest and the latest modelled 
objects, or if the work of many artificers were represented. Though much 
brass work is manufactured in West Africa, and has been for ages, I know of 
none that could well be considered precursors of, or successors to, the peculiar 
kind described in this paper, or showing any of its characteristics. It is 
interesting, however, to find existing till to-day in Benin City, objects of the 
same form as are represented in the pieces the Museum has acquired, such as 
the fish-slice-like instruments, seen in the Fetish-houses in Burton’s time, and 
by the officers of the expedition in February last. 
The composition of these metal objects has been spoken of, in the press 
and by most of those who have described them, as bronze ; but the specimens 
acquired for the Mayer Museum cannot be truly designated as of that alloy, 
which usually contains 15 per cent. of tin to about 85 per cent. of copper. 
Analyses, made for me by Mr. Watson Gray, F.C.S., of Liverpool, of the four 
statuettes (Figs, 10, 11, 12, 13), and of the small female figure (Fig. 4) are 
given below :— 







Be B | C tie aie E 
Fic. 10. Fie. 11. Fie. 12. | Fie. 13. Fie. 4. 
Seay, erates Wee Prong. | Be Vata | sanlea || Body. | Prong. ae 
Copper. .| 84 | 92 || 83 | 95 | 88 | 98 | 72 | 62 | G4 | 8 
Be) gas a | 3 | aece| 4) 2) 8 8 
ii... | = re eR Pe ee frace | = 3 
Antimony .| — | — || — | —- eae Pa Pape | Ses || se erage 
Bismuth .| frace | trace |\ trace | — | trace | trace} — || — | — — 
Iron . .| trace | trace || trace | trace | trace | trace | trace | trace | trace | trace 
Zine » | 12|—|] 4) 4] 9 2 | a4 || 36 | 33 || 10 






_ It will be seen from the above table that the body of the statue, Fig. 10, 
is composed (Col. A) of brass, with 4 per cent. of lead ; but that its supporting 
