Digital Benin Research
British Museum
institution
W. D. Webster photograph album
archival unit
Photograph Album
document type
1898-01-01/1899-12-31
date
47_1713170 open in catalogue
specific objects
Uhunmwu-Elao open in Ẹyo Otọ
edo designations
Webster, William Downing
source
target
Museum für Völkerkunde, Dresden
mention
Institutional metadata
Reg No.
Af,A154.13
PRN
EPF11214
Add ID/s
9472 (William Webster number (top right proper))~9471 (William Webster number (top left proper))~9491 (William Webster number (bottom right proper))
Bibliography
King & Waterfield 2006: ~Webster 1900: Cat.24, fig.47 (9491)
Title/s
Benin Bronzes and Ivories (Series)
Object Name/s
photographic print (black and white)~album
Material/s
paper
Technique/s
photographic process
Description (full)
Photograph (black and white); mounted on card, part of a bound album. View of four objects: wooden commemorative head (top right proper); wooden rattle staff with cowrie shells (top left proper); brass commeorative head (bottom right proper); wooden commemorative head (bottom left proper). Photographic process.
Dimension/s
Height: 24.00 cm (page)~Width: 27.40 cm (page)
Subject/s
Previous Owner
Previous owner/ex-collection: William Downing Webster
Date/s
1898-1899 (circa)
Prod. Place/s
Photographed in: London
Assoc. Ethnic Name/s
Associated with: Edo
Assoc. Place/s
Associated with: Benin City
Assoc. Event/s
Associated Event: British Expedition to Benin City - 1897
Inscription/s
Inscription:~ Inscription details: inscription (front of mount; below photograph) in English~ Inscription quoted: 9472. Carved mask. £15.0.0. Sold to Dresden Museum. 9471. do. do. £25.0.0. Sold to Dresden Museum 9491. Bronze do. £25.0.0. Sold to Dresden Museum~ Inscription note: Handwritten in black ink. Descriptions of object from the Kingdom of Benin, with indicative purchase prices and names of some vendors.
Curator's Comment/s
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 objects depicted in this photograph were sold by William Webster between 1898-1913. Commemorative head (9471: bottom left proper) was purchased by Arthur Baessler in 1900. Donated by Baessler to the State Ethnographic Collections of Saxony - Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden. Accession number: 16155. Note: the staff and commemorative head at left proper are allocated a single number: 9471, presumably misunderstood from the photograph as a single object. This page of the album also includes photographs Af,A154.14 (left proper).
URL
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/EA_Af-A154-13