These heads served the royal ancestor cult and were placed on altars, each in a separate courtyard of the royal palace. Sacrifices were given to them, and they were covered with sacrificial blood. This is the youngest of the three memorial heads of royal ancestors in the collection. This is indicated, on the one hand, by the deteriorating quality of craftsmanship. On the other hand also the ornaments attached to the sides of the beaded hood. They can be interpreted as "wings", the projections protruding forward underneath as snakes. Birds and (rainbow) snake stand for the connection between earthly this world and heavenly otherworld. King Osemwede (ca. 1816-48) used such ornaments to emphasize the spiritual powers of the kings, whose political and military power had dwindled. Thus they stylized themselves as the personification of the medicine god Osun. Even before that, however, kings were regarded as "divine beings," and their heads in particular were cultically revered as the "concentration of spiritual power and the people" even during their lifetimes. Text: Dietmar Neitzke.