In African states, the rank of the queen-mother was one of the highest, and her rights were almost the same as those of the main ruler of the city. She disposed of the life and death of her subjects; she was given the same honor as the king. The tradition of casting bronze heads of kings and queens for altars is considered the oldest in Benin's unique palace art. The depictions of these heads were not realistic portraits, but rather symbolic icons; this is the so-called idealizing naturalism. Usually the rulers and their mothers were not so much depicted as they were designated. The Queen Mother is shown a traditional coral mesh hairdo. Such heads were made using the so-called “lost wax technique”. First, the earthen block was covered with wax and shaped into the desired shape. Clay was put on top of it and heated. The wax was leaking out and a metal alloy was poured in instead. It is usually called Benin bronze, but it is closer in composition to brass. Heads and other items of court art were created by professional artisans by order of the royal court. They often formed corporations and lived in special neighborhoods.
Olderogge Dmitry Alekseevich Antiquities of Benin, II (uhuv-elao of Benin kings) // Collection of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography / otv. ed. S.P. Tolstov. - M .; L .: Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1955. - 461 p .: ill. - (Collection of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography; vol. 16) 1955 Olderogge Dmitry Alekseevich Antiquities of Benin (from the collections of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography) // Collection of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography / otv. ed. S.P. Tolstov. - M .; L .: Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1953 .-- 554 p .: ill. - (Collection of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography; vol. 15).