This altar figure wears an engraved helmet donned by Portuguese soldiers in the fifteenth century, as well as a leather tunic intended to protect the torso from arrows. His features, including the long nose with a prominent central ridge, are markedly different from those of Benin courtiers; the artist makes it clear that this man is a foreigner. He carries a short sword or long dagger at his waist and is curiously barefoot. With arms raised and knees bent, this soldier stands ready to fire his rifle. The artist carefully delineates the different patterns of the figure’s clothes and the exacting details of his weaponry, and sensitively models his body and stance. The soldier’s weapon is a matchlock gun, newly invented in the 1440s and used into the sixteenth century.