Historical / contextual reference

Photograph of the specific selected museum object; identity checked by object ID and accession.

Credit: Ìgbèsànmwà (ivory- and wood- carving guild) artists / The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1972
Rights: Public domain; Met Open Access

Open original image record ↗ · Read image licence ↗

An idealised face is framed by carved details that connect a queen mother's memory with courtly and spiritual power. The Metropolitan Museum identifies this ivory pendant with Idia and explains that it was probably made for her son, Oba Esigie. Metal inlays and carved marks distinguish the forehead, while the surrounding ornament includes mudfish and Portuguese faces. These are not incidental decoration: the museum relates them to kingship, wealth and the sea. The object also belongs to a history disrupted by the British invasion of Benin in 1897 and the dispersal of palace art. A future archive should retain those relationships rather than detach the face as an anonymous luxury design.

Why preserve it: Curatorial interpretation: It links a powerful woman, specialist court artists, symbolic materials and the consequences of colonial dispersal.

Keep in mind: The identification and original wearing occasion are qualified by the museum. Preserve provenance and contemporary Edo perspectives; an open image is not ownership of the culture.