Benin ivory mask
The Benin ivory mask is a miniature sculptural portrait in ivory of Idia, the first Iyoba (Queen Mother) of the 16th century Benin Empire, taking the form of a traditional African mask. The masks were looted by the British from the palace of the Oba of Benin in the Benin Expedition of 1897.
| Benin ivory mask | |
|---|---|
One of four related ivory pendant masks, taken during the punitive expedition of 1897. | |
| Material | Ivory, iron inlay |
| Height | 24.5cm |
| Width | 12.5cm |
| Depth | 6cm |
| Created | Sixteenth century AD |
| Discovered | Benin City |
| Present location | Metropolitan Museum of Art, British Museum, Seattle Art Museum, Linden Museum, private collection |
| Registration | 1978.412.323, Af1910,0513.1, 81.17.493, F 50565 |
| Culture | Benin Court Art |
| Measurements are from the British Museum version; other versions have slightly different dimensions. | |
Two almost identical masks are kept at the British Museum in London and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Both feature a serene face of the Queen Mother wearing a beaded headdress, a beaded choker at her neck, scarification highlighted by iron inlay on the forehead, all framed by the flange of an openwork tiara and collar of symbolic beings, as well as double loops at each side for attachment of the pendant.
Until its restitution in 2022 to Nigeria, the Linden Museum in Germany had such a mask in its collection. Further, there are also similar masks at the Seattle Art Museum and one in a private collection.
The British Museum example in particular has also become a cultural emblem of modern Nigeria since FESTAC 77, a major pan-African cultural festival held in Lagos, Nigeria in 1977, which chose as is official emblem a replica of the mask crafted by Erhabor Emokpae.