Accession Number: 1988.11.1
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Digital Benin research
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Pitt Rivers Museum
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Last Updated: 2021-07-20
Language: english
Accession Numberobject id
1988.11.1
Descriptiondescription
Wooden comb with circular terminal; upper part decorated with cross-hatching. [LM 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 1/2/2006]
Material / Processmaterial
Material of original: Wood Plant
Dimensionsdimensions
Width: max 73,00 mm; Length: max 370,00 mm
Keywordsobject type
Keyword: Comb; Keyword: Toilet Article; Keyword: Hair Ornament
No. of objectsobject count
Datingdate made
Date made: 1898
Geographical Provenanceproduction place
Africa -> Western Africa -> Nigeria, Benin City
Personsprior source
Field collector: Felix Norman Ling Roth, PRM source: Christie's
Provenanceprior source, provenance
Other Owners, Henry Ling Roth Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers
When Collecteddate collected
When collected:
Cultural Groupsethnic attribution
-> Isoko, -> Urhobo
Acquiredaccession date
Acquired: 1988
Primary Documentationnotes
Documentation: : Christie's catalogue in RDF; Accession entry: : Comb carved with lozenge and zigzag designs. Handle terminates in a circle. This piece was said by Christies' staff to have come from General Pitt Rivers' collection. However, it is not illustrated in Antique Works of Art from Benin. The original marking of the object begins 'Sobo Comb. Benin' and ends with the date 1898, but the middle part of the inscription has been deliberately obliterated. The name 'Ling Roth' is however just discernible. A call to the Bankfield Museum of which Ling Roth was Curator suggests that his material was not marked in this particular style. Possibly this piece was given by Ling Roth to Pitt Rivers? The comb also bears a number in pencil - either 1681 or 1891. l. [LMM ?] [NB see below, research field]; Written on object: : SOBO COMB BENIN [illegible] 1898 [in pencil:] [either] 1891 [or] 1681 [LM 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 1/2/2006]; Pitt Rivers Museum label: : NIGERIA BENIN SOBO Wooden comb. Purch. Christies 1988.11.1 [LM 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 1/2/2006]
Research Notesnotes
Research Notes: Illustrated and described on page 1,681 in volume 5 of the manuscript catalogue of General Pitt-Rivers's 'second' collection, held in the Department of Manuscripts and University Archives at Cambridge University Library (MSS Add.9455): 'Date: 1898 May / Drawing and Description of object: Presented by H. Ling Roth Esq, 32 Prescot St. Halifax ... [1 of] 3 carved wooden combs from the Sobo Country, Benin W. Africa [3 Drawings annotated 1/3] / Price: Presented / Deposited at: / Removed to: Room VII case 69 [in red].' All other items obtained from Roth from Benin were dated 11 May. [AP 22/03/2010; JC 12 9 2013]
For a plate illustrating Ijo and Itsekiri wood combs, see 'Notes on the Jekris, Sobos and Ijos of the Warri District of the Niger Coast Protectorate', by Reginald Granville and Felix N. Roth, in Journal of the Anthropological Insititute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 28 (August-November 1898), pp. 104-26. [AP 5/4/2000; JC 12 9 2013]