Af,A154.5

EPF11206

8817 (William Webster number)

King & Waterfield 2006:

Benin Bronzes and Ivories (Series)

photographic print (black and white)~album

paper

photographic process

Photograph (black and white); mounted on card, part of a bound album. View of relief plaque with Oba (king) in centre, hands supported by two attendants. Two smaller figures below. Heads and torsos of two Portuguese men in profile in upper corners. Photographic process.

Height: 24.00 cm (page)~Width: 27.40 cm (page)

Previous owner/ex-collection: William Downing Webster

1898-1899 (circa)

Photographed in: London

Associated with: Edo

Associated with: Benin City

Associated Event: British Expedition to Benin City - 1897

Inscription:~ Inscription details: inscription (front of mount; below photograph) in English~ Inscription quoted: Bronze plaque. £45.0.0. sold to Dresden Museum.~ Inscription note: Handwritten in black ink. Description of object from the Kingdom of Benin, with indicative purchase price and name of vendor.

This album contains photographs of objects from the Kingdom of Benin, Nigeria sold by the London-based dealer, William Downing Webster. Many of the photographs are annotated with information relating to the vendor/s and some include purchase prices. It is likely that the photographic series was compiled by Webster in the early 1900s. The relief plaque depicted in this photograph was sold by William Webster to Arthur Baessler in 1899. Donated by Baessler in same year to the State Ethnographic Collections of Saxony - Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden. Accession number: 16139. This page of the album also includes photographs Af,A154.6 & 7 (left proper).

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/EA_Af-A154-5