Horned wooden seated figure of 'Skenga' or 'Ikenga'.
The ikenga is an altar figure dedicated to a man’s right hand and arm, the agent of success in various activities. Men sacrificed to their ikenga altars before important work and made further offerings after successfully completing their undertaking. The ikenga figures include things that bring success in life - the horns of a sacrificed ram, a pot of protective medicine.
These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.
The database retains language taken from historical documents to help research. Please note that some records may feature language and reflect systems of thinking that are outdated and offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.
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