Small brass head of a chief.
Similar commemorative brass/bronze heads and sculptures were placed on 'ancestral' altars in the Royal Palace in Ancient Benin as a way to honour and communicate with their ancestors. This head can be identified as a chief by the row of coral beads he is wearing around his neck, as the Oba owned all of the coral in Benin and gave coral beads as rewards to people at his court. These sculptures were not meant to be literal representations, and would often represent the role and function of the person.
This head is a modern copy made with the traditional method to sell to tourists.
