Commemorative Head with Beaded Crown, Benin Court Style

Crowned busts and ornamented heads celebrate the splendour of courtly regalia: netted beaded caps, towering tiered crowns, coral collars and the ritual marks of rank.

Bronze has long been the language of power in West Africa. Cast by the lost-wax method — in which a model shaped in wax is encased in clay and replaced by molten metal — these works preserve with remarkable fidelity the faces, regalia and ceremonies of the courts that commissioned them.

This regal head rises from a broad, flaring base ribbed with fine concentric bands and edged with bead-like bosses. The skull is enclosed in an openwork cap of crossing beaded strands, punctuated by rosette ornaments and vertical beaded bars.

Long plaited strands fall on either side, framing a full, composed face with large almond eyes, pierced pupils and raised marks above each brow. The neck is wrapped in stacked coral-style rings, a hallmark of royal regalia.