Af,A154.22

EPF11223

3829 (William Webster number (right proper wand))~3830 (William Webster number (left proper wand))~3833 (William Webster number (pendant mask))

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 seven objects mounted on wooden board. Top centre: brass pendant mask in form of human face. Middle centre: two brass wands. Right and left sides: brass armlerts with figures. Centre lower section: brass quadrangular bell and inscription plaque. Bottom centre: brass rattle. 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: Two bronze ceremonial wands. Two bronze armlets. bronze bell & bronze rattle. £40.15.0. Berlin Museum. Bronze mask pendant. £9.10.0. Gen. Pitt. Rivers. ~ Inscription note: Handwritten in black ink. Descriptions of object from the Kingdom of Benin, with indicative purchase prices and names of vendors.

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 as follows: Pendant mask: to General Augustus Pitt Rivers by 1900. Purchased by dealer, John Hewett, UK. Merton Simpson Gallery, New York, USA. Donald Morris Gallery, Detroit, USA. Robert and Judith Weston, Detroit, USA. Julian Kaplin, Toldeo, USA; Estate of Julian Kaplin. Donald Morris Gallery, Inc, New York, USA. Purchased through the Lathrop Fellows in 1999 for the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, Hanover, USA, Accession number: 999.42.33929. Wands, armcuffs, bell and rattle: to Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in 1898. Accession numbers: III C 8072a-b (wands); III C 8074-5 (armcuffs); III C 8079 (bell); III C 8082 (pendant rattle). By jhudson 03 Apr 2023~This page of the album also contains Af,A154.21 & 23 (right and left proper). By jhudson 20 Apr 2023

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/EA_Af-A154-22