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 which the asen is made to memorialize.  This is just the top of an asen whose original, much longer bar - which would have been staked in the ground - has been replaced for this to be mounted for table top display, on this square wood base. The figures on top are allegorical (we don't know their specific significance), evoking aspects of the life of an individual in the Fon tribe of Benin. The dog and chameleon are of brass; the tree of sheet metal.

14″ overall height x 7 3/8" disk diameter (35.5 x 18.7 cm) 5 x 5 1/8 x 1 3/8" base (12.7 x 13 x 3.5 cm)