A Plaque - Ama

A Plaque - Ama - in the Benin style, depicting two musicians and a third peron, who adjusts the sound of one of the two drums. A rare depiction on a Benin plate; beautiful, mature patina consisting of various layers, verified by the detailed photographs at the end of this photo sequence.

“The Benin plaques depict scenes of court life, including musical performance … horns, bells and stamped rattles seem to predominate, and drums are rare.” Roger Blech, Reconstrucing African musicv history

One clear example: the plaque at the British Museum, registration Af1898,0115.128, shows two standing drummers with a kneeling attendant who supports one of the drums. The attendant is shown holding the drum (tensioned by pegs) which suggests an immediately analogous scene to what you describe: a third person adjusting or supporting the instrument (in this case the membrane/tension pegs) rather than playing it, see British Museum

Another example: Af1961,18.1 (also British Museum) shows a seated drummer playing two slit‑drums, though there is no explicit third figure adjusting a drum.

Thus: yes, there are highly comparable motifs of multiple percussionists and attendants supporting the drums in the Benin plaque corpus, though perhaps your exact combination (two musicians + one who adjusts) seems rare but not unique.

One point worth noting: the attendant adjusting/holding the drum in Af1898,0115.128 is explicitly mentioned in the catalogue description: “‘…the two single‑skin drums … whose membranous head is tensioned by adjustable pegs, for which an attendant is always needed.’” British Museum

Heught: 50 cm
Width: 40 cm
Weight: 12 kg