Museum

Le Petit Musée de la Récade (or The Little Museum of the Recade, in English) was inaugurated on December 1st at the Centre – Arts et Cultures in Cotonou, Benin. The museum showcases the recades (ceremonial staffs) that belonged to the former kings of Dahomey (the southern kingdom of Benin between the 17th and the 19th century).

 

These royal staffs were swept out of Benin during the colonial era. It is thanks to the generosity of gallery owner Robert Vallois and its partners of the cultural center that the staffs were brought back to Benin last December.

 

For this occasion, a group of Beninese artists, including myself, was asked to reinvent this ancestral piece and create a collection of contemporary royal staffs (pictures 8 to 12). These works are now exhibited alongside the original recades (pictures 3 to 6) in a unique space, which recounts an important chapter of the history of Benin.

 

Find here pictures and details of the recade I’ve made for the museum (pictures 1 and 9):

 

Materials: black/white stoneware, silver-red glaze, gold leafs

Firing: electric firing, 1260ºC

Dimensions: 46 X 15.5 X 10 CM

 

Address:

Le Centre – Arts et Cultures
Lobozounkpa
Commune d’Abomey Calavi
Arrondisement de Godomey
01 BP 5592 Cotonou
Benin, Africa

 

Le Centre – Arts et Cultures

Recades