A Documentation of Benin Royal Brass Casting Traditions and Their Contemporary Expressions

Benin Kingdom brass casting represents one of the world's great sculptural traditions, and documenting its current state, the continuity of its workshop knowledge, and the contemporary expressions of its practitioners contributes to both art historical and creative arts scholarship. This study documented the Benin royal brass casting tradition and examined contemporary expressions of this practice in Benin City, Edo State, South South Nigeria. A qualitative ethnographic design was employed, with fieldwork at the Igun Eronmwon quarter, the hereditary guild district of Benin bronze casters, over three weeks. Data collection combined in-depth interviews with 14 guild members across three generational cohorts, observation of production at three active casting workshops, and photographic documentation of both traditional and contemporary works. Results confirmed that the cire-perdue (lost wax) casting technique has been maintained with remarkable fidelity across generations. The guild hierarchy, presided over by the Oba's patronage system, remains structurally intact, though contemporary production increasingly serves tourist markets and collector demand rather than exclusively royal commissions. Contemporary innovations include new figurative subjects addressing social commentary, portraits of contemporary public figures, and abstract compositions, representing a creative expansion beyond traditional iconographic constraints. Repatriation activism has reinvigorated community awareness of the tradition's global significance. The study concludes that Benin casting is in a moment of confident contemporary expression alongside tradition maintenance and recommends academic-guild partnerships for systematic documentation and international scholarly exchange.

Keywords: Benin brass casting, lost wax technique, royal art, Edo State, traditional sculpture