Early in 2016 the Salisbury saleroom Woolley & Wallis was contacted by the owner of this bronze Benin head of a youthful oba or king.
Cast in leaded bronze with two vertical incisions between the eyebrows inlaid with iron, it would have held a place of honour on an altar in the palace of the kingdom of Benin (in present-day Nigeria), during the 16th century.