Kingdoms of Bronze

Synopsis: With the conquest by the British of the city states of Benin in 1897, the bronzes used in many of the ceremonies designed to honor the Oba (the divine ruler) were released onto the art market and now fetch vast sums of money in interantional auctions. In this film David Attenborough visits the court of the present Oba to show scenes from court life and the manufacture of contemporary bronzes. There is an interview with one of the Oba’s sons, himself an anthropologist, about the significance of the bronze figures and plaques which give a picture of Benin court life over the centuries. Today bronzes are cast both for tourists and townsfolk, and the film shows a bronze caster at work, using the ‘lost wax’ technique.
Series: Tribal Eye, Series
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Film; Film. 16mm. sd. col. 50 min.
Technical information: Black-and-white / Sound
Year of production: 1975
Availability: Hire
Notes: Series reviewed by M J Adams in ‘American Anthropologist’, Vol 79 (1977), pp 996-7.
Also available on DVD together with all 7 other programmes in the series from 2Entertain (ref. BBCDVD2401)
Documentation: Accompanying book by D. Attenborough, ‘The Tribal Eye’ (London: BBC Publications, 1976).
Subjects: Anthropology
Keywords: Benin; bronze sculptures; lost-wax casting; Nigeria; Oba

Director

David Collison

Writer

David Attenborough

Cast

David Attenborough

Name: Royal Anthropological Institute Film & Video Library, c/o Concord Media
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