The Fagalde Collection of West African Tribal Art - The African Maternity Figures

Afo peoples, Nigeria,
19th century (wood)

Afo maternity figures are thought to represent an ancestral mother and are owned by individual villages.These figures are brought out of their shrines once a year for the Aya ceremony. At this time, men pray for increased fertility in their wives and make gifts of food and money to the ancestor... (read more...)

Figures representing a mother and child seem to occur less frequently than other subjects, such as chiefs or warriors on horseback, reclining or kneeling females, or animals, especially snakes. The meaning of these ancient maternity figures is unknown. Perhaps such figures served as symbols of the primordial mother or another mythical figure in the history of a clan in which the sculpture originated. Regrettably, the stratigraphic context in which most of these objects have been discovered and other pertinent data are unknown. Even so, it is possible to date the objects... (continue...)

Head of a Queen Mother (Iyoba)...

Head of a Queen Mother (Iyoba) 
1750–1800 - Nigeria, Court of Benin 
Courtesy: The MET Museum of Art

In the Benin kingdom, the iyoba, or mother of the oba (king), occupies an important and historically significant place within Benin's political hierarchy.

The title was first conferred upon Idia, the mother of king Esigie, who used her political skill and supernatural abilities to save her son's kingdom from dissolution in the late fifteenth century.

Ever since that time, queen mothers have been considered powerful protectors of their sons and, by extension, the kingdom itself.

Because of the enormous esteem in which they are held, iyobas enjoy privileges second only to the oba himself, such as a separate palace, a retinue of female attendants, and the right to commission cast brass sculptures for religious or personal use...   http://tribart.blogspot.fr/2017_02_01_archive.html#1755759189924177816