Urhotọ

Urhotọ is used here to describe both Altar Tableaux and Altar Rings, despite their different forms. Altar Tableaux consist of a square or rectangular cast base with a square opening at the centre. The commemorated Ọba or Iy'Ọba is placed centrally, while attendants, courtiers, and chiefs flank them on either side. The bases are usually decorated with the guilloche motif found throughout the arts of the Benin royal court, as well as iconographic motifs such as elephant trunks ending in fists, mudfish, and ram heads. By contrast, Altar Rings are, as their English name suggests, ring-shaped brass cast objects measuring between 20 and 26 cm in diameter.

The function of Altar Tableaux is much better understood than that of Altar Rings. They are placed on the ancestral altars of the Ọba or Iy'Ọba, alongside other typical altar objects, such as Uhunmwu-Elao (commemorative heads), Ẹroro (bells), and Aken'ni Elao (carved altar tusks). Through our research in Benin City, it is now understood that Altar Rings were also used on ancestral altars. The similarities, however, end there, as the visual language differs greatly from that of Altar Tableaux and is often related to sacrifice, death, as well as "sacred kingship and magical medicine" ( ).