Christie's, London, Important Tribal Art, 30 November 1994, lot 115 

Jean-Jacques Rotthier Collection (1932–2009), Brussels, then by descent

Schaedler (Karl-Ferdinand), Earth and Ore, 2500 Years of African Art in Terra-cotta and Metal, Munich, 1997, p. 225

U-shaped pendants were formerly worn at the waist, typically in sets of three, by the Oba and certain high-ranking court officials. This iconography is also known from examples carved in ivory. Of the five recorded examples, the pendant preserved in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, is generally regarded as the most complete and accomplished (see Barbara Plankensteiner, ed., Benin: Five Centuries of Royal Art, Paris, Musée du quai Branly, 2007, p. 393, cat. 168).

Executed in either ivory or brass, these pendants depict the motif of the “supporting triad,” a visual expression of the Edo ideal of kingship. At the centre stands the Oba, identifiable by the large royal bead displayed across his chest at the intersection of two strands of coral beads, a powerful symbol of the legitimacy of his authority.

Yet even the most powerful ruler of Benin could not govern alone. His authority depended upon a delicate balance between the exercise of royal power and the consent of his Edo subjects. This indispensable support of the Edo polity is embodied by the two officials who flank the Oba.