Sculpted tusk from a royal altar
Nigeria, Benin kingdom
Edo. Circa 1735, reign of Oba Eresonyen
Ivory, burn marks
Acquired in 1949 from the Berkeley Gallery, London. Collected probably after the sacking of Benin City in 1897
MEG Inv. ETHAF 021934
Notice
In Benin kingdom, the oba, or king, is considered by his subjects to be a divine being. His eldest son and successor lays commemorative pieces on the ancestral altar dedicated to the royal spirits, in particular brass ("bronze") heads topped by an elephant's tusk. The motifs carved on this tusk honour Eresonyen's father, Oba Akenzua I.
© 2015 Musée d'ethnographie, Genève
Ville de Genève, Département de la culture et du sport