The Benin ivory mask is a miniature ivory sculpture in the form of a traditional African mask, depicting Idia, the first Iyoba (Queen Mother) of the Benin Empire during the 16th century. The British looted the masks from the palace of the Oba of Benin during the Benin Expedition of 1897. The British Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City both possess nearly identical masks, both portraying the Queen Mother in a serene expression, wearing a beaded headdress, a beaded choker around her neck, with scarification on the forehead highlighted by iron inlay, and all framed by the flange of an openwork tiara and collar of symbolic beings, as well as double loops on each side for attachment of the pendant.
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