The centralized city-state of Benin has its origins in the Edo-speaking peoples, who founded a vibrant cultural center that evolved continuously under the influence of internal and external power dynamics. According to oral tradition, around 1300, the Edo chiefs reached out to the leader of neighboring Ife, Oranmiyan, to establish a new divinely sanctioned royal dynasty. This marked the beginning of the investiture of Benin’s rulers to the title of obas, granting them a dual role as chief priests presiding over significant religious ceremonies and as overseers of a complex structure of palace officials.

During the fifteenth century reign of Oba Ewuare, Benin saw the formation of its armies and the construction of a massive wall around its capital. Concurrently, Portuguese traders sought exclusive commercial treaties with the powerful polity, resulting in Benin’s authority extending to the Niger delta in the east and to the coastal lagoon of Lagos in the west by 1500. The city-state’s major exports, including pepper, textiles, and ivory, were exchanged for imported metals, primarily brass. The influx of brass sparked a surge of creativity among court artists who skillfully transformed it into various works for the palace, ranging from ancestral portraits positioned on royal altars to decorative plaques depicting the oba, his courtiers, and foreign dignitaries.

From the onset of these exchanges, European patrons commissioned exquisite ivory artifacts from Edo carvers for their princely collections back home, solidifying the city-state’s reputation as a center for exceptional artistic craftsmanship.

The city-state of Benin, founded by the Edo-speaking peoples, evolved into a vibrant cultural center continually reshaped by its leadership through shifting power dynamics. It ~acquired~ an influx of brass leading to a surge of creativity among court artists who transformed it into works for the palace ranging from ancestral portraits, positioned on royal altars, to decorative plaques depicting the oba, his courtiers, and foreign interlocutors. From the earliest such exchanges, those Europeans commissioned exquisite ivory artifacts from Edo carvers for princely collections back home.

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