Iyeọkhọkhọ
The Iyeọkhọkhọ (hen figures) are used by chiefs and commoners on female altars. These differ from cast brass or bronze Ọkporhu, which are only to be used on royal ancestral altars for the Iy’Ọba.
Iyeọkhọkhọ are carved in wood and usually depicted with a plump body and stylised motifs to represent the feathers. They are often painted, and on some occasions brass sheeting is overlaid on the surface. According to Seige (in Plankensteiner, 2007, p.412[17]), hens ‘symbolise maternal care and love, in particular they protect the chicks by spreading their wings over them’.
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