Übersee-Museum investigates the provenance of 18 Benin bronzes
There are 18 objects in the collection of the Übersee-Museum Bremen that are attributable to Benin. Three commemorative heads form part of the Africa exhibition, while a ceremonial staff is to be seen in the exhibition Spurensuche – Geschichte eines Museums (“Tracing the Past – History of a Museum”). Another seven fragments are on show in the museum’s display depot. According to provenance researcher Bettina von Briskorn, who conducted preliminary investigations into the objects in the 1990s: “The provenance research is more complex than it might appear at first sight here because the source situation is complex. Not all Benin objects in European museum collections today necessarily come from the British punitive expedition of 1897. Some items may have left the country prior to this; what is more, historical models were imitated after the resurgence of the art of bronze casting in Benin.”
Nigeria and Germany concluded a museum cooperation agreement on 13 October 2021 stating that the Benin Bronzes in German museums are to be returned from 2022 onwards. The detailed arrangements for these restitutions are to be jointly elaborated in December 2021. In addition, the two countries are seeking to jointly establish a broad-based collaboration in the field of museum exchange, new museum construction and archaeology. It was also agreed that Benin Bronzes would continue to be exhibited at German museums and that collaborative work would be undertaken on exhibition projects.