Made to be worn on a cord at the chest or hip, these small ivory masks portray Idia, the first Iyoba, or Queen Mother, of Benin and mother of Oba Esigie. The palace guild of carvers made them in the early sixteenth century for royal rites. Two near-identical examples, taken by British forces from the Oba's palace in 1897, are now in London (shown) and New York.
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Her pupils and the scarification on her forehead are inlaid with iron. The openwork crown alternates mudfish with small bearded heads of Portuguese traders.
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