Ivory tusk commissioned by Ezomo (high-ranking noble and military commander) Ekeneza under Oba (King) Akengbuda; motifs include deified kings and commanders from the past, Edo warriors, European soldiers, and courtly women, as well as leopards, elephants, reptiles, and mudfish
[According to a letter from Bernard Black, Gallery Duveen-Graham Modern Art, New York, dated August 27, 1956: "The tusk was purchased from a private collection in Kilmallock, County Limerick, Ireland. Records, if any, were lost but the owner was of the decided opinion that her father had obtained it from one of the members of the punitive expeditionwhich the British Government sent into Benin in February, 1897. It remained in the possession of the family until sold recently to us."]; Fall of 1956: Sold by Gallery Duveen-Graham Modern Art to Mia
The identification of the tusk's patron and the interpretation of its iconography have been provided to Mia in 2013 by the late scholar Dr. Barbara Blackmun, specialist of Benin culture. These data are available.