Читать книгу Art in Theory - Группа авторов - Страница 57

Dapper was a medical doctor who lived and practised in Amsterdam. He wrote works including a history of Amsterdam, an account of the Dutch East India Company and a study of Africa, from which the present description of Benin is taken. It was first published in 1668 and translated into English in 1670 and French in 1686. Dapper did not visit the continent himself, but based his account on the writings of Samuel Blommaart, a merchant involved in trade with the Guinea coast who had himself spent several years in Africa. It is noteworthy in general for its favourable comparison of the West African city with Dutch cities, but more particularly in terms of the present anthology for its mention of those canonical works of African art subsequently dubbed the ‘Benin Bronzes’. These otherwise remained unknown in Europe until the British destruction of Benin in 1897 (cf. IVB14 and IVD10 and 11). The account of Dapper/Blommaart describes how the brass plaques were displayed on the wooden pillars of the Oba’s palace complex, and also how three‐dimensional figures of a bird with wings outstretched adorned the palace roof. The fact that both two‐ and three‐dimensional works are described as being made of copper, and as ‘carefully maintained’, implies not only that they shone brightly in the African sun, but also that they were important features of Benin’s structure of symbolic power. The present extract is taken from a translation of the original Dutch edition by Barbara Trapido, published in Thomas Hodgkin (ed.), Nigerian Perspectives: An Historical Anthology, 2nd edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975, pp. 159–61.

Nine or ten miles north of Gotton and fifteen miles farther inland is the town of Benin, called Great Benin by us on account of its size (because there is no town of equivalent size to be found in these regions), and called Oedo by the inhabitants. The town, together with the Queen’s court, is about five or six miles in circumference, or, to exclude the court, three miles within the gates. The town is fortified on one side by a wall ten feet high, made of a double palisade of broad trees with joists of five or six feet laid crosswise, each fixed to each other, the whole worked solidly together with red loam. This wall runs round only one side of the city, and on the other side is a marsh and dense bush which is no small protection for the city. The town has several gates, eight or nine feet high and five feet wide, with doors made of single whole pieces of wood, which turn on staves like farmers’ gates in this country.