“In these chapters we are looking at objects that chart how Europe first encountered and then traded with the wider world in the sixteenth century.”
B
“There are several hundred Benin plaques now in European and American museums, and they offer us a remarkable picture of the structure of this West African kingdom.”
C
“It is about 40 centimetres (16 inches) square; its colour strikes you as coppery rather than brassy, and there are five figures on it, three Africans and two Europeans.”