A carved table top, carved from a single slab of hard, dark wood. The central figure is of a man on horseback facing to the left. Behind him is a man in a boat and before him is a man holding a spear, and both are attached to the central figure with chain
Nigeria, Benin. Acquired by Salford Museum and Art Gallery in 1903 and given the accession number 248. The Salford accession register describes the item as:
‘Table-top of dark wood; intricately carved with figures & in the middle, a man on a horse with high-pommelled saddle and stirrups. The hind legs of the horse are flected like those of an elephant. In front stands a man with a barbed spear. He holds in the right hand (his wrist being grasped by the mounted man) an object which might be the lid of a basket, a basket which is possibly represented under the horse’s nose. Astern of the horse is a warrior in what may be meant for a fort or a canoe. He holds a drawn sword and a chain. Other objects are kegs, a goblet, calabashes, man with a pipe, tortoise, horses’ heads, eels or serpents. On four edges, twisted interlaced ornament carved. The legs (which are absent) were like those of No. 247, mortised into the top; being secured there by large-headed iron nails, of which five remain. This table-top was taken at the fall of Benin City, West Africa, in February, 1897, by the British Punitive Expeditionunder the command of Admiral Rawson. Benin, West Africa. Purchased with No. 247 from Mr. B. G. L. Killerby, Bedwell Farm, Stevenage, Herts, for £6-6-0.’
B.G.L. Killerby wrote to Salford Museum and Art Gallery in September and October 1903 with the intention of selling this carving as a pair with 0.9321/5. In a letter dated 14 September 1903 he states the following:
‘I beg to enclose two illustrations showing ethnological specimens of carved wood, from Benin City, West Africa, taken at the fall of the City in February 1897 by the British Punitive Expedition under the command of Admiral Rawson.
The illustrations are from Mr Websters Catalogue and he sold the pieces originally for the price of £20 + £4.10.0. I am asking £10.10.0 for the two and if you think they would be suitable for your museum I shall be very pleased to send them on approval.’
Killerby presents himself as an adept ethnographic dealer and references several high profile collectors, collections and catalogues in his correspondence. He claims that the carvings belonged to Augustus Pitt Rivers and upon his death in 1900 were sold at Staren’s Auction Rooms in London, where he purchased them. A further line of inquiry would involve confirming this claim and the presence of the carvings in one of William Downing Webster’s series of illustrated catalogues of ethnographic collections, a catalogue which Killerby references twice as ‘Mr Websters Catalogue’.
© The Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester
Images (.tiff): © The Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester, photography by Michael Pollard