However, their pictorial programme did not disappear when the relief panels were taken down and stored at the end of the 17th century: many motifs from the panels can be found in the 18th century on the carved elephant teeth that were placed on the altars on the new, larger memorial heads that served as their base. In contrast to the relief panels, the depictions of warrior kings, especially Esigies, occupy a large part of the ivory carvings. While the relief panels were used to depict the Benin cosmos, the depictions of the warrior kings on the elephant tusks stand for the legitimisation of the reinvigorated kingship of the 18th century, which in its political power, but also in its artistic expressions, refers to the powerful kings of the 16th century. At the same time, a series of new motifs can be found on the carved teeth that refer to King Esigie or the spiritual power of the king, which had been emphasised since the 18th century.