Benin ivory mask

• 
  Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  British Museum, London
• 
  Linden Museum, Stuttgart

In the early 16th century, the dynamic Esigie ruled the Benin Empire of the Edo people as its Oba. He came to power as Portuguese explorers first made contact with the empire. Trade and diplomacy with Europe brought Esigie and the Edo prosperity and regional influence as the empire traded pepper, ivory, local textiles, and slaves for brass, cloth, coral beads, and mercenaries for protection. Esigie engaged in two major conflicts. First, his half-brother fought a protracted civil war over the line of succession that would crown Esigie, the firstborn. Second, Esigie successfully defended against an invasion from the northern Igala Kingdom and captured their leader.[8] Esigie rewarded his key political and mystical advisor during these trials, his mother Idia, with the title of Iyoba (Queen Mother)—the first in a tradition of Queen Mother advisors.[9] The identification with Idia was made by Oba Akenzua II in the mid-20th century.[10]

The Oba of Benin commissioned works from his guild of ivory and wood carvers, the Igbesanmwan. Their works were customized for their ruler, between the material connotations of ivory and the visual motifs in the carvings.[11] At least two of the masks feature Portuguese imagery (although this imagery outlasted the actual Portuguese presence)[12][13] and thus were likely created during Esigie's early-16th century rule (possibly ca. 1520),[14] either during Idia's life or soon after her death.[8] The similarities between the masks indicate that they were likely created at the same time[15] by the same artist.[8] Their details match the comparable carving qualities of ivory spoons and salt cellars commissioned during the same period,[8] the early period of Benin art, the phase of strongest affiliation with Ife or Yoruba art.[16][17] Ivory works from Benin were mainly for the Oba to use in ritual.[18] The masks may have been used in ceremonies including the Ugie Iyoba commemoration of the Oba's mother, as well the Emobo purification ceremony to expel bad spirits from the land.[8][19][20] Similar pendant masks are mainly used in contemporary Emobo ceremonies focused on bad spirits, though the traditions of Emobo may have changed throughout history.[19]

Four rungs on the side of the masks, above and below each ear, let the masks hang in suspension[8] and indicate that the masks were suspended from a cord,[15] though experts have disagreed on how they were worn.[8][15] British Museum art historian William Fagg concluded that unlike the small brass pendant masks worn at the waist by modern kings, the ivory mask was likely worn around the neck. An 1830s drawing of a similar mask worn at the breast by a neighboring ruler confirms Fagg's theory.[15] Based on the position of the rungs, Metropolitan curator Alisa LaGamma also affirmed the theory.[8] Benin specialist and anthropologist Paula Ben-Amos, however, wrote that the masks were worn on the waist as pendants during the Ugie Iyoba and Emobo ceremonies.[8] The hollow masks likely served as amuletic containers.[8] Below the mask's collars, the ring of small loops are attachment points for crotal bells.[21]

The depiction of women is rare in Benin art,[2] though the position of Idia, known to Edo tradition as "the only woman who went to war", is exceptional, and the very title of Iyoba or Queen Mother was created for her.[25] The headdress forms part of the ukpe-okhue ("parrot's beak") hairstyle she originated, and is more clearly seen on the Bronze Head of Queen Idia.[26] The depicted precious coral of the headdress and choker are in the form of cylindrical ileke ("royal") beads, which it was the specially-granted privilege of the Queen Mother to wear, being usually reserved for the Oba and the Edogun (war chief).[26][27][28][29] The Linden Museum mask also has a string of actual ikiele beads of coral wrapped around its forehead.[30] These red beads and red cloth, once reserved for leadership figures, have in modern times been popularly adopted as elements of Edo traditional dress.

Modern Edo women wearing ileke-style beads.

The foreheads of both masks were are inscribed with four vertical cicatrices over each eye, with inlays of a pair of iron strips highlighting the scarification.[31] Iron is also used in the pupils and rims of the eyes.[14]

Detail of Portuguese merchant head and mudfish

Ivory, both then and now, connotes royal wealth, power, and purity.[11] Ivory, already a luxury commodity in Africa, became increasingly coveted with the growth of the European ivory trade.[32] When an elephant was killed in Benin, the Oba received one tusk as a gift and was offered the other in sale. Thus, the Oba had many tusks and controlled the ivory trade.[33] Ivory is associated with the Edo orisha of the sea, Olokun. As this orisha gives wealth and fertility, it the spirit world's equivalent of the Benin Oba. Ivory gave wealth similar to Olokun, as it enticed the Portuguese merchants who, in turn, returned wealth to Benin.[33] The Portuguese belonged to Olokun, having arrived from the sea.[18] The whiteness of ivory also reflects the symbolism of white chalk, whose ritual purity is associated with Olokun.[33][34][35]

The openwork of the tiara and collar represent tiny heads of Portuguese men in the tiara of both the Met and the British Museum examples, with eleven figures in the British Museum mask, and in the Met mask seven figures of Portuguese men alternating with six representations of mudfish, the West African lungfish.[30] The Portuguese, who had only recently arrived in the area, were a symbol of power and affluence to the royal court.[8] Their iconography is identifiable by their long hair, hanging mustaches (often described as bearded), and domed hats.[11] Benin art historian Barbara Blackmun interprets these crown adornments as a reference to Idia's ability to conduct the Portuguese power to her son's favor.[9] Mudfish were a common theme in Benin royal arts,[8] and reflected the divinity of the Oba.[18] Edo cosmology believed that spirits crossed the ocean to reach the afterlife, where their leaders lived like gods. As creatures who could live on land and sea, the mudfish symbolized the duality needed for the leader's final journey,[8] and this duality represents the seafaring Portuguese as well.[2][36] The mudfish also appear in a pattern on the Linden Museum mask's crown, while the private collection mask's crown has bird elements, also formerly present on the similar Seattle Art Museum mask.[15] The masks also differ in pattern along their bottom, collar edges. The collar of the Met example is similarly decorated with eleven Portuguese men (with damage on its proper right side), while the collar of the British Museum mask is instead an abstract guilloché latticework.[8][15]