Photographs © Tim Hamill
FON, FIGURE 2, 14.5", $250, Republic of Benin
Figures and staffs made of iron and brass were displayed in royal compounds to affirm kingly power. They usually depicted a king with related motifs. Numbers 1-3 and 9 are mostly formed from iron sheets. Parts of them and Figure 4 and all of those on 5-8 are cast in a copper alloy, probably brass. Numbers 5-8 were parts of staffs called "Asen" and commemorated past rulers. The staffs were stuck in the earth.
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