The Lower Niger Bronzes: Beyond Igbo Ukwu, Ife, and Benin by Philip M. Peek

Abstract

For the past sixty years, one of African art history's most intriguing “problems” has been sorting out the temporal and spatial relationships among a diverse corpus of cast copper alloy artifacts from southern Nigeria collectively known as the Lower Niger Bronze Industry (LNBI). As an undergraduate at UCLA in the early 1970s, I remember sitting in Arnold Rubin's survey of the arts of West Africa and listening to him speak about these enigmatic cuprous objects associated with various sites and societies situated in the region surrounding the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers, artifacts that sometimes share formal characteristics, sometimes not. Some had been documented in situ, most were museum pieces with little or no provenance. Though associated with different societies, their concentration in this circumscribed area, prompted questions about their histories and the relationships of the communities with which they are associated, questions that today are still largely unanswered. Who made them, when were they made, where did the material from which they were made come from, and how were they used in the societies with which they are associated?In 1963, the then keeper of the African collections of the British Museum, William Fagg, created the rubric “Lower Niger Bronze Industry” to differentiate this heterogenous group of artifacts from the better-known cuprous traditions of Igbo Ukwu, Benin, and Ife. He applied this appellation to fourteen objects that he had identified as possessing certain affinities. He speculated about their possible origins, considering when they were made and who made them, as well as their meanings in the societies in which they were documented. Over the last sixty years, the LNB corpus has expanded as more artifacts have been discovered, in the field but mostly in museum collections. During this time several scholars have grappled with this art historical enigma, but it is only recently that Philip Peek, a longtime specialist in the expressive cultures of southern Nigeria, has taken on the formidable task of sorting through the existing scholarship and material evidence associated with these provocative objects. The Lower Niger Bronzes: Beyond Igbo-Ukwu, Ife, and Benin, offers the first comprehensive study of this material. A warning, this book is not for the faint of heart. Though not a catalogue raisonné, it does examine a large representative sample from a corpus of over 1,000 objects and offers a deep dive into the analysis of this vast and varied body of metalwork, most carrying little if any provenance, to make sense of what it might tell us about the migration of people and things through time and space and the insights it might reveal concerning the precolonial histories of southern Nigeria. Peek presents prime examples of the full range of LNBs, effectively integrating sixty black-and-white and sixteen color photographs to buttress this impressive study.In a field (art history) that relies heavily on morphological analysis and identifying formal affinities as a means for establishing relationships among objects and the people who made them, it is ironic that one of the prime characteristics of this body of objects is its heterogeneity. Indeed, though Peek acknowledges the value of stylistic analysis for determining the origins of objects, he points out its limitations, especially in a region where people and things have been moving around for a very long time. Many of the bronzes are objets trouvés and often are not attributed to the ancestors of the people who found them, but to spirits. Ultimately, Peek argues that we are not dealing with a single “industry,” but with multiple “industries” that he and other scholars believe, in one way or another, share a common history and that there were multiple casting sites located throughout the region dating back to as early as the fifteenth century, if not earlier. One of the motivations for sorting out the origins of this diverse group of objects has been a belief that determining where and when they were made and how they might have moved through space and time might shed light on the histories of the region in which they are found. Though Peek's study certainly advances discourse in the field, he is the first to confess that, “Clearly, we are at best at the beginning of a very long search for meaning,” and that “the reconstruction of southern Nigerian cultural history by means of untethered bronze art works is a hazardous business” (p. 210). Indeed, his analyses of the evidence have generated more questions than answers. He, in effect, has transformed Fagg's fourteen-piece puzzle into one of over 1,000 pieces!The book begins with a thorough review of previous scholarship on the subject, in which Peek observes that the first LNBs were identified among the thousands of copper alloy objects that were looted by the British from Benin in 1897. In this context, their primary characteristic was a lack of formal affinity with objects that had been attributed to the cuprous casting practices of Benin. The LNBs, in fact, have received considerable attention, along with the better known “bronze” traditions of Benin, Ife, and Igbo Ukwu, relative to other Nigerian material practices. Nevertheless, as previously mentioned, Peek underscores that the evidence presents more questions than answers regarding specifically where and when these cuprous objects were made, as well as the contexts in which they may have been used.The book's 200-plus pages are arranged into fourteen chapters. The first chapter considers the origins of the study of the LBNs and reviews subsequent research to the present. The second presents a comprehensive synthesis of the ethnographic and historical sources that Peek surveyed to (re)construct context for the bronzes. In this chapter, he bemoans the dearth of archaeological research in southern Nigeria, research that undoubtedly would yield a better understanding of the LNBI. He also discusses ethnic diversity and the movement of both people and objects as factors complicating the process of reconstructing the histories of the LNBs, noting that both objects and metal casters have been quite mobile for centuries. Chapter 3 focuses on the potential that metallurgic analyses hold for understanding where and when these objects were made. Despite its potential, Peek is quick to point out that such a line of query is fraught with challenges associated with nomenclature, correlating metal content with sources, and the practice of recycling objects made from cuprous metals. After reading these three chapters, the principal take away is that trying to make sense of the LNBs ain't easy!The core chapters, 4 through 13, systematically examine each of the categories that Peek has delineated as comprising the LNBI, beginning with manillas and bracelets and ending with enigmatic objects that do not fit into any of the previous categories, including the well-known “Tsoede Bronzes.” The criteria he uses to define these categories is based on the forms the objects take and/or the contexts in which they are used. Most abundant are bells. But LNBs also include skeuomorphs of things made in other media; human and humanoid figures; heads, faces and costume masks; animal skulls; pendant plaques; and scepter finials. One of the most interesting categories of objects is considered in chapter 6. Here Peek examines a large and varied array of copper-alloy objects that includes over a dozen different types of items used in political and religious contexts in several societies in southern Nigeria. In Isoko and Urhobo communities they are referred to as ovo, among the Igbo as ofo, and as ovuo in Ijo communities. Though diverse, these artifacts share a common referent, the olo/ofo, a tree that has been ascribed with ritual significance throughout the region. Peek argues that their linguistic, formal, and iconographic affinities provide evidence of cultural interaction in past. Due to the brevity of this review, it is impossible to consider each of the chapters separately. May it suffice to point out that, taken as a whole, they successfully convey a mind-boggling array of forms and contexts of use. Indeed, the only characteristics all these objects have in common is their region of origin (southern Nigeria) and that they are cast from alloys of copper.I have few criticisms of the book. It would have been useful if Peek had introduced a bit of theory into his narrative, specifically that associated with how one approaches the reconstruction of history through analyses of material culture. For example, though he embraces the value and limitations of stylistic analysis and fully acknowledges the significance of deploying it in regional contexts, he might have engaged the work of art historians (e.g., Bravmann 1973, Kasfir 1984, and Frank 1987) who have considered this issue. Along similar lines, and perhaps even more relevant, is the writing of archaeologists (e.g., McIntosh 1989, MacEachern 1994) who have grappled with the notion of “symbolic reservoirs” that considers shared systems of symbols and beliefs within and between closely related societies in the distant past.Another minor concern is that the book has no index. The Lower Niger Bronzes no doubt will long stand as a vital reference work, as such, it would have been useful to include an index that would allow one to easily access the book's multitude of subjects.Perhaps the most important chapter in the book is the final one, titled, “The End Game: Possible Solutions for an Ongoing Puzzle,” in which Peek offers a summary of the preceding chapters and identifies the missing pieces of the “puzzle.” It does an excellent job describing an art historical problem, reviewing the evidence, and suggesting possible strategies for pursuing answers to the many questions that the Lower Niger Bronzes present the historian of visual culture. Anyone teaching an advanced course in African art and visual culture who is interested in introducing students to the process of how one interrogates a discrete body of material culture to construct an art historical argument might consider assigning this chapter.Peek's study is particularly important in an age when scholarship focused on the visual practices of Africa is dominated by writing on modern and contemporary art. To encounter a monograph that interrogates precolonial material culture is truly refreshing as it reveals the value of engaging in historical inquiry. In this regard, The Lower Niger Bronzes joins recent publications such as Kathryn Gunsch's The Benin Plaques (2020) as a must-read for all students of African art history.