Altarpiece of cast brass/bronze, ring shaped with figures around the circle including a standing executioner, two executed and decapitated prisoners, with birds pecking the severed heads: West Africa, Nigeria, Edo State, Benin, 17th - 18th century
WEST AFRICA. NIGERIA. BENIN. BRONZES. RING bronze, cast in high relief, and chased. The ring is made up of two prone headless bodies, with an executioner standing on the back of one, and a bird pecking at the wrist bindings of the other; alternating with similiar birds pecking at the heads lopped from the bodies. Benin, W. Africa, Midwestern State. Wider World Gallery Label Text, 2001: Altar Ring. Nigeria. Benin. Seventeenth or eighteenth century. Cast brass, showing two executed prisoners and their severed heads being pecked by birds. On one body stands an executioner holding a sword. It has recently been suggested that these objects were made in Ife, where the Benin dynasty originated.