This brass head depicts an "oba," or ruler of the Kingdom of Benin. (Image credit: Cleveland Museum of Art (Public Domain))Quick factsName: Ancestral commemorative headWhat it is: A copper-alloy sculpture of an African ruler's headWhere it is from: Edo, NigeriaWhen it was made: Mid-1500sIn the Kingdom of Benin, one of the oldest monarchies in West Africa, a traditional ruler known as an oba would commission a brass or bronze bust of their predecessor upon taking the throne. The bust of the past oba would then be set on an ancestral altar in the palace. But when the British Empire annexed the Kingdom of Benin into colonial Nigeria in 1897, the British looted thousands of African artifacts spa...