Native mask decorated with lethal seeds

A ceremonial mask from the Benue River Valley region of Nigeria, from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art . The black and red sprinkles are apparently abrus seeds - which is interesting in an of itself, because a quick search reveals that the seeds are more toxic than ricin: The toxin abrin is a dimer consisting of two protein subunits, termed A and B. The B chain facilitates abrin's…