Bronze casting in the Benin Kingdom with Phil Omodamwen

Phil Omodamwen explaining the process of bronze casting

Bronze casting belongs to a millenary tradition in the Kingdom of Benin. Bronze casters are part of a guild and the rule of primogeniture applies to the inheritance of the role (the eldest son will take over from his father when the latter dies). The first record found of a guild was under Oba Oguola (1280-1295). Bronze casters are called Isama and used to be royal court artists exclusively. Their production was reserved for the royal household. They would craft ornamental and ceremonial objects. It was a way to record important historical events.
The knowledge of the Isama was secretly guarded within the guild, women would not be permitted to learn the bronze casting technique in order to prevent their husband, not part of the guild, from learning it.
The Omodamwen family started as Isama around 1500 AD under the reign of Oba Esigie.
At the end of 19th century, the British looted many treasures from the royal court and, it is said, auctioned them in London to pay back the cost of their war.
The victory of the British also ended the royal exclusivity on bronze casting, so that Isamas could sell their production to the public as well.

the bronze casting workshop

Bronze casting is about clay, wax, wood, fire and bronze. It is an interesting and somewhat complex process using the art of lost wax. Phil Omodamwen is the one who currently owns the charge of bronze casting in the Omodamwen family. He operates in a compound in the outskirt of the city which looks like a garden with a large outdoor fireplace protected on one side by a mound of earth. This is where the casts of clay are baked to prepare the mould of the bronze. Another fireplace, fed with gas, is buried underground, it is where the bronze is liquefied before the casting.
The garden has piles of dry wood which is the main energy source to bake the casts. At the back of the garden stands a two room mud building with a roof and large openings to provide good ventilation for clay casts to dry before they can be baked. Phil explained that the drying has to be slow in order to avoid cracks that would affect the quality of the bronze during the moulding process. Papaya trees among a few other trees were providing a green touch to the otherwise red colour of the soil.
The crafting process happens as follows:
1- hand moulding of a rough shape of clay that will be the backbone of the shape of the sculpture
2- cover the clay with a layer of wax

wax over clay to shape things up

3- engrave the wax with details so that it looks like the final bronze casting
4- cover the wax with clay
5- let it dry for a few days

cover the wax with clay

6- when the clay is dry, it should be baked in wood fire, having first connected the wax inside the clay with a few wires of wax to ease the removal of the wax when the whole thing is heated.
7- when the cast is readily baked, let it cool down for about an hour
8 - bury it upside down in the ground leaving just the space created by the wires open
9 - pour the liquid bronze in the cast

about to pour the liquid bronze

10- when the cast has cooled down, remove the outside cast of clay
11- then comes the time to polish and fine tune the details of the piece. The final polish can be either with olive oil and a brush to obtain a light golden finish or with some chemicals to oxydise the surface to get a darker mat finish, usually like what we see in museums or outdoor.

the birth of a leopard

We were lucky to see the casting of a small leopard. It is quite a labour intensive process, done in a very manual and simple way highlighting the great skills of these craftsmen.

Phil next to a Bini Warrior