This regal head commemorates the important central role in Benin politics fulfilled by the Queen Mother, or lye oba, who held the rank of a high chief. Her son, the king, consulted with her about all questions of leadership and policy making during his reign. Ironically, all direct contact between the king and his mother was forbidden; they communicated from separate palaces through messengers. This bronze head, which shows the queen's distinctive "chicken's beak" hairdo, would have adorned the ancestral shrine established in her honor after her death.
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