Small Fon bronze depicting a kneeling lady with a large pot in her hands. The pot is made of iron. The front of her skirt was originally attached to the iron ‘Asen’ altar of which she once formed a part as it disintegrated long ago. These altars served as monuments to the dead for the Fon people. Placed in family shrines, such altars became the focus of interaction with the ancestors. Very often human altar figures were flanked by animals or cherished objects. This figure dates from the early 20th century. Ouidah Fon culture. Benin. West Africa. Height 7.5 cm. Width 3.5 cm. Depth 7.5 cm.