Pendant Mask of Queen Mother Idia, early 16th century — British Museum

Ivory pendant hip mask portraying Idia, Queen Mother of the Oba Esigie of Benin, early 16th century CE. One of two surviving paired hip masks (the other at the Metropolitan Museum of Art). Among the most celebrated objects in African art history, and the symbol selected to represent Nigeria at FESTAC 77 (Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture), Lagos, 1977 — the first major international assertion of its cultural and national significance. Nigeria requested the loan of the British Museum's mask for FESTAC; the British Museum refused. Idia mask is the iconic touchstone of the Benin Bronzes repatriation movement.