A bronze bust of Constance Afiong "Aki" Ekong, with her hair in a bun, wearing earrings and with her eyes half-closed.

Benedict (Ben) Enwonwu was a leading Igbo Nigerian painter and sculptor. He learned carving from his father and studied Fine Arts at Ibadan and Umuahia Government College from 1934–37. His solo exhibition of 1944 in Lagos resulted in a scholarship from Shell West Africa and the British Council to study fine art in England. Here he studied first at Goldsmiths' College, London, in 1944, and then at Ruskin College, Oxford, 1944-46. He moved to the Slade School of Art, London where he graduated with a first in Sculpture in 1947. He then undertook postgraduate studies in anthropology at the University of London, graduating in 1948.

Constance Afiong “Afi” Ekong (1930–2009) was a leading Nigerian artist, collector and promoter of the visual arts, and close friend of Enwonwu’s. Ekong was among the first female Nigerian artists to train academically abroad, studying at the Oxford College of Arts and Technology, Saint Martin's School of Art and the Central School of Design. On her return to Nigeria in 1957 she became a leading advocate for post-colonial artists. As member of the selection committee for the 1960 Nigerian Art Exhibition, which coincided with the nation’s independence celebrations, she selected work by Enwonwu, including one edition of this bust.

Ekong’s marriage to Prince Abdul Aziz Atta (1920-72), who became Head of the Federal Civil Service, prompted numerous visits to Britain. It is likely that she sat for this bust during one of her husband’s postings to London. The heavily textured casting is typical of Enwonwu’s work, but offset by the serenity of Ekong’s expression, with half-closed eyes and a gentle smile. In addition to this bust, Enwonwu painted Ekong in 1962.

Enwonwu prepared this portrait at the same time as his large bronze sculpture of Queen Elizabeth II, which was to be installed at the Nigerian House of Representatives in Lagos. Both were visible in the studio at Maida Vale, London, at the time of the BBC Two documentary Panorama, broadcast on 11 November 1957, which showed the artist at work. The queen visited the studio several times to sit for Enwonwu, and it may have been on one of these occasions that she noticed or was offered the bust of Ekong. It is unclear whether the bust in the Royal Collection is the original or a subsequent cast. According to an historic Buckingham Palace label, the original was made for Alan Lennox-Boyd (Viscount Boyd of Merton), then Secretary of State for the Colonies, but the edition number of this bust is obscured. Other editions were later acquired by the German government and the US State Department.

One cast, formerly in a private collection in Nigeria, was sold at Sotheby’s in 2020 (‘Modern and Contemporary African Art Online, 31 March 2020, Lot 14).

In addition to this bust, the Royal Collection holds another sculptural work by Enwonwu (RCIN 2175), and a number of his paintings.