Benin Ivory scepter
For more than five hundred years, the artists of the West African kingdom of Benin in Nigeria created outstanding works of art mainly in brass and ivory for use in divine kingship rituals, to adorn the royal palace, and identify the King, chiefs, warriors, and other officials at court. The art of ivory has always been an exclusive privilege of Benin royalty and very delicately carved ivory scepters have an ancient history going back to the Golden Era of this ancient kingdom. They been catalogued either as scepters, flywhisks, staffs, idiophones or clappers. It has always been something of a mystery why such fragile objects carved in ivory should have been used as bells or gongs at the court of Benin city when the sound they would emit is so frail.
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