Rare et exceptionnelle personnage léopard - Figurehead - Leopars Royal - thousand and one - Nigeria (No reserve price)

The art of Ifé is the only one in Africa to offer anthropomorphic or zoomorphic representations of such realism.

It is of such high artistic quality that it has often been compared to the great naturalist cultures of ancient Greece and Rome.

The leopard is a royal symbol of the Kingdom of Abomey (or Danhomè in the Fon language).

According to legend, the dynasties of the southern kingdoms of the Republic of Benin originate from Tado, a city in present-day Togo, and they descended from a mythical couple: Princess Aligbonon of Tado and a leopard.

The pairs of leopards were placed on the king's ancestral altars.
Often, they were aquamaniles.
During ceremonies, they were filled with water through a hole located on the top of the head.
The water then flowed through the nostrils.

The Oba had live leopards at his court and employed a caretaker entirely dedicated to the care of these animals.
From 'Treasures of Ancient Nigeria' exhibition at the Grand Palais, Paris, 1984.