Bristol Museum & Art Gallery has announced that it is open for discussion with the Benin Dialogue Group about a bronze artefact looted from the court of Benin by Britain in 1897. The return of the sculpture, a bronze portrait bust of a royal,

was requested by the Prince Edun Akenzua of the Royal Court of Benin during a BBC programme on 23 March.

 

The museum consortium, known as the Benin Dialogue Group, is attempting to end decades of wrangling over the estimated 4,000 bronze and ivory artefacts looted by the British army from what is now southern Nigeria as part of a punitive expedition in 1897. Since the 1960s, Nigeria has repeatedly called for their return. Consortium members include the British Museum in London and the Humboldt Forum in Berlin.