Benin Bronzes

As well as playing an active role in the Benin Dialogue Group, the Pitt Rivers Museum is committed to transparency about our collections. Supporting the curatorial research that seeks proactively to expand and share our knowledge of the Benin collections currently held by Oxford University forms an important part of that commitment. Doing this research, pro-actively putting it in the public domain and consulting on improving and adding to it while in dialogue about returns is the necessary first step for a museum that doesn't just have a single item but has complex collections.

The University of Oxford's Benin 1897 Collections: An Interim Report (2021)

This Interim Report introduces the objects taken during the Benin Expedition of 1897 that are currently held by the University of Oxford as accessioned objects and on loan and identifies further objects which may or may not be from the 1897 Expedition. The Report also separately discusses related categories of object, including a) those taken during related military expeditions in what is today Nigeria; b) a range of other items taken from Benin City in the 20th century (including royal and religious objects of 19th-century date); and c) more recent artworks exported from Nigeria. The Report also sets out a series of principles for provenance research into Benin 1897 material. 

The University of Oxford's Benin 1897 Collections (Updated list of objects in scope)