This brass head depicts an “oba,” or ruler of the Kingdom of Benin.
(Image credit: Cleveland Museum of Art (Public Domain))
Quick facts
Name: Ancestral Commemorative Head
What it is: A copper-alloy sculpture of an African ruler’s head
Where it is from: Edo, Nigeria
When it was made: Mid-1500s
In the Kingdom of Benin, one of the oldest monarchies in West Africa, an oba—a traditional ruler—would commission a brass or bronze bust of their predecessor upon ascending the throne. This bust was subsequently placed on an ancestral altar within the palace. However, when the British Empire annexed the Kingdom of Benin into colonial Nigeria in 1897, British forces looted thousands of African artifacts spanning the kingdom’s seven-century history. Nigeria has since formally requested the return of these cultural treasures.
This specific bust resides in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA). The museum acquired it from prominent French art dealer Louis Carré, who sold numerous artifacts looted from Benin to Western museums during the 1930s. Known as “uhunmwun-elao” in the Edo language of the historic Kingdom of Benin, this ancestral head of an oba stands roughly 1 foot (30 centimeters) tall. Crafted from a copper alloy using a lost-wax casting process, it was produced as a singular unique bust, as then-CMA curator William Milliken documented in a 1937 study.
Initially, CMA experts believed the ancestral head depicted a princess, attributing the layered coral necklaces and thin braids at the temples to feminine features. However, the coral necklaces and lattice-pattern beaded caps were actually potent symbols of a ruler’s authority. The summit of the bust is partially hollow, designed to support an intricately carved elephant tusk that documented the oba’s achievements and significant life events.
Many of the surviving ancestral commemorative heads were crafted during the 15th and 16th centuries by the Igun Eronmwon, a hereditary guild of brass and bronze artisans dedicated to creating objects for the royalty of the Kingdom of Benin. According to the CMA, Benin royalty held brass in high regard because of its resistance to corrosion. Much of the brass used in Africa was imported from as far away as Germany.
When British forces invaded the Benin royal palace in 1897, they looted thousands of metal plaques, human and animal sculptures, and royal and personal ornaments. These items have come to be known as the Benin Bronzes, despite most being technically brass, an alloy of copper and zinc. The British Museum currently holds the world’s largest collection of Benin brass artifacts—over 900 objects—which Nigeria formally requested be returned in 2021.
Several institutions have begun repatriating this historic royal art to its homeland. In 2022, a consortium of German museums holding over 1,100 of these objects transferred ownership to Nigeria. That same year, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art transferred 29 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. Furthermore, in 2025, the Netherlands returned 119 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. To date, however, the British Museum has not officially returned any of the Benin Bronzes in its collection.
Ownership of these artifacts remains a subject of controversy. In 2025, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston returned two Benin Bronzes to Oba Ewuare II, the great-great-grandson of the last oba preceding the 1897 British invasion. Oba Ewuare II serves as the Oba of Benin and the custodian of Benin culture.
A comprehensive catalog of royal artifacts looted from Benin in the late 19th century is available on the Digital Benin project website.