94.2014.1 Ring depicting human sacrifice

Cast images in high relief of severed heads and vultures—indicating the practice of human sacrifice—appear on rings found outside of the Yoruba and Benin kingdoms. This one was cast in a province of the Benin Kingdom and displays a single kneeling figure holding a calabash and an upright seriated head, flanked on either side by three medicine pots. The severed heads are gagged to prevent them from cursing their executioner. The intended function of such rings is uncertain, but they may relate to similar rings from the Benin Kingdom that have been found on altars honoring a 16th-century oba (king) who was a renowned healer with the power of life over death. Like the Yoruba, Benin societies and provincial regions under their influence practiced human sacrifice in rituals believed to benefit their entire community.

Roslyn A. Walker, Label text, Arts of Africa, 2015.

Apply to objects where number equals 94.2104.1