Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts returned a pair of looted artifacts Friday to His Royal Majesty, Omo N’Oba Ewuare II, Oba of Benin, reconciling a colonial-era theft that dates back to the late 1800s. The return represents the first time the MFA has given back an artifact since launching its colonial-era provenance project in 2021.
The art works – a commemorative head made of terracotta and iron, and a bronze relief plaque depicting two officials with raised swords – were handed over to His Royal Highness Prince Aghatise Erediauwa, who received them on his brother’s behalf in a ceremony at the Consulate General of Nigeria in New York City.
“I am pleased to deliver these two works of art to Prince Aghatise Erediauwa on behalf of Oba Ewuare,” said Matthew Teitelbaum, the Ann and Graham Gund Director of the MFA, in a statement. “As custodians of these exceptional objects for the past 12 years, it is deeply gratifying to see them returned to their rightful owner.”
The artworks were looted by British soldiers during an attack on the Kingdom of Benin in 1897, according to the MFA. MFA Curator of Provenance Victoria Reed says although the oba, or “King of Benin,” is no longer an official government position, he is the rightful recipient.
“It is to his descendants that we are giving them back,“ she said, pointing to a British military raid on Benin City – now present-day Edo State, Nigeria.
The return follows the April closure of the MFA’s Benin Kingdom Gallery which featured many loaned art works that could also be traced back to the 1897 raid. The loaned works have since been returned to art collector Robert Owen Lehman. Three works from the Benin Kingdom remain in the MFA’s collection, the museum said, because their origins remain “inconclusive.”
“I think we have a responsibility to collect as ethically as possible according to the highest ethical standards and if we discover something in the collection that we don’t rightfully own, then we have a responsibility to return it,” said Reed, who works to document the ownership history of the objects in MFA collections.
“I could steal your watch, and I could keep your watch, and I could wear your watch, and I could take really great care of your watch, and I could love your watch, but it’s still your watch, right? It’s still been stolen from you.”
