"Another [A Mask] with collar ornamented in cat fish design and with the forehead and nose inlaid in copper, 7in high"
In the sales catalog, lots 72 to 109 are “the Property of a Gentleman who was a member of the Benin expedition
summary of curatorial notes archival research thus far summer 2021notes
Unclear who exactly carried the looted material away from Benin, and whose collection(s) it was in until 1931 when it was sold at Mess. Foster auction July 16, 1931, as lot #94. Lot listing states, “Another [mask] with a collar ornamented in cat fish design and with the forehead and nose inlaid in copper, 7in high.” In the sales catalog, lots 72 to 109 are “the Property of a Gentleman who was a member of the Benin expedition
1897, looted from Benin City
1931 (July 16), sold at Mess. Foster auctio [lot #94] from “the Property of a Gentleman who was a member of the Benin expedition to Sir Henry Wellcome Collection
1965 Gift of the Wellcome Trust to Fowler Museum (then Museum and Laboratories of Ethnic Arts and Technology)