Former French colony blocks sale of royal loot
Benin’s government has blocked the sale of a royal recade, a traditional wooden scepter, which was taken by French colonial forces over a century ago.
The artifact came from the palace of King Behanzin, the last monarch of the West African nation, which was then known as the Kingdom of Dahomey.
The scepter had been scheduled for auctioning at the Hotel Drouot in Paris on Friday, but it was withdrawn at the last minute at the behest of Beninese authorities, French broadcaster RFI reported on Sunday.
The news agency said the French Ministry of Culture directed the Millon auction house to remove the recade from the list after receiving a request from the African country’s presidency.
The sculpted scepter, approximately 50cm long and a symbol of royalty, “is still for sale,” despite being delisted, a manager of the Millon company has reportedly said.
“It’s the last sale of the year and we didn’t want to get into a showdown,” RFI quoted the unnamed executive as saying.
According to the outlet, news of the item’s auction sparked outrage in Benin, with Marie-Cecile Zinsou, president of the Zinsou Art Foundation, demanding its return. She claimed that colonial forces had stolen the recade from the African country.
Dahomey was a French colony from 1904 until 1959. It gained complete independence from France in 1960 and changed its name to the Republic of Benin in 1975. The recade and several other cultural objects were reportedly either given to colonial troops at the end of the 19th century or looted.
A report commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron on the restitution of African cultural heritage states that there are more than 90,000 artifacts from Sub-Saharan Africa in public museums in France. Around 46,000 of the items, which were amassed during the colonial period, are said to be held in the Quai Branly Museum in Paris.
Late in 2020, French lawmakers unanimously approved a bill authorizing Paris to return treasured items to Benin and Senegal, another former French colony in West Africa.
In 2021, Beninese President Patrice Talon traveled to Paris to retrieve 26 of the artifacts returned by the French government four years after Macron promised to return “African heritage to Africa” within five years. They included a towering wooden throne taken from the palace of Behanzin in 1892.
However, efforts have since stalled amid a delay in the passage of the law supporting the reparations due to right-wing opposition in the National Assembly, according to French media.
Former colonial powers have come under increasing pressure in recent years to return looted artifacts to their rightful owners. Earlier this year, the UK returned a collection of gold artifacts to Ghana on loan terms, 150 years after they were stolen from a king in the West African country.
