Magnificent Oba skull - Yoruba - Nigeria (No Reserve Price)

Magnificent Skull, in southern Nigeria, was one of the most powerful empires in Africa. The royal city is believed to have been founded by a prince from the neighboring city of Ifé around the 13th century, before encounters with Portuguese colonists from the 15th century onwards, followed by trade exchanges and attempts at Christianization. Benin City was eventually sacked by the British in 1897. The king of Benin was the Oba, who was glorified through a highly developed court art, including carved leopards made using the lost-wax technique and cast in bronze (brass made of copper and lead). The leopard symbolically occupied the same position among animals as the Oba did among his subjects. The Kingdom of Benin is also renowned for its bronze Oba heads, court dwarf sculptures, European soldier sculptures, carved ivory tusks, and especially the bronze plaques.