Photographs © Tim Hamill
FON, FIGURE 10, 15", $200, Republic of Benin
The spear is movable, not fastened at the base or hand.
Figures and staffs made of iron and brass were displayed in royal compounds to affirm kingly power. They usually depicted a king with related motifs. Numbers 1-3 and 9-11 are mostly formed from iron sheets. Parts of them and Figure 4 and all of those on 5-8 are cast in a copper alloy, probably brass. Numbers 5-8 were parts of staffs called "Asen" and commemorated past rulers. The staffs were stuck in the earth.
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