Dr. Kathryn Wysocki Gunsch is Teel Curator of African and Oceanic Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and author of "The Benin Plaques: A 16th Century Imperial Monument," Oxford: Routledge, 2018.
Transform your course: From a live Smarthistory webinar: Dr. Kathryn Wysocki Gunsch on a Benin Relief Plaque
The audience hall in the palace in Benin City communicated to visiting ambassadors, traders, courtiers, and subjects the power and wealth of the Oba, or king.