Benin Ivory Pendant Pair

During the first half of the sixteenth century, the monarch of the Benin Kingdom (in what is now southern Nigeria) commissioned several pairs of ivory pendants in the form of a dignified, self-composed face. ¹ He wore these at the waist for the annual court ceremony known as Emobo, meant to mark a particularly trying period in his teenage struggle for the throne. They commemorate his mother, a woman instrumental to his success. The same Edo (the ethnonym for the people of the Benin Kingdom) male artist ² —for only men sculpted wood or ivory and cast brass—carved both these pendants (Figure 4.4.1). Exquisite in their delicacy, these works are slightly larger than similar ivory pendants, and more refined and sensitive in their details and modeling. Although this queen mother gazes out at today's world with serenity and self-control, she was politically aware and ruthless in her efforts to secure royal authority for her son, like many queen mothers worldwide. These idealized portraits honor her, but additionally call upon her powers to protect her son and his descendants unceasingly. Over the ages, these works have attracted an ever-growing audience. They have become not only prime examples of African art's beauty and skill, but of modern-day political efforts that respond to former colonization and the restitution of stripped heritage.