This allegorical figure - whose meaning we do not know - adorned the top of an "asen", a metal memorial to an individual in the Fon tribe of Benin. An asen is a long iron bar topped with a round metal disk on top of which figures are placed that represent the life of the person so memorialized.

Please take note of the photo of the full asen top to see how this object could have been arrayed, probably together with other objects, although on a much larger one.

9 1/4″ tall x 8 1/2" wide (23.5 x 21.6 cm)