Photograph Album
Unit
W. D. Webster photograph album
Institution
British Museum
Date
January 1, 1898 to December 31, 1899
Actors
Source actors
Webster, William Downing
Mentioned actors
Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Grassi Museum of Ethnology, Leipzig
Loading PDF

Edo designations mentioned

2 items
Ahianmwẹ-Ọrọ
Ahianmwẹ-Ọrọ
Related english designations
Bird of Prophecy Figure, Bird of Prophecy Staff
Okpia
Okpia
Related english designations
Male Figure
Previous document
Next document
An archival document representing a Photograph Album of 2 page(s)
Photograph Album
British Museum
W. D. Webster photograph album
Date
January 1, 1898 to December 31, 1899
An archival document representing a Photograph Album of 2 page(s)
Photograph Album
British Museum
W. D. Webster photograph album
Date
January 1, 1898 to December 31, 1899

Institution data

Institution fieldValue
Reg No.
Af,A154.42
PRN
EPF11243
Add ID/s
9366-7 (William Webster numbers)~9373 (William Webster number)
Bibliography
King & Waterfield 2006: ~Webster 1900: Cat.24, fig 87
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 three brass objects: at right proper male figure with hands held in front; in centre bird of prophecy staff; at left proper male figure with elaborate headdress wearing medicine container round neck. 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 to Benin City - 1897
Inscription/s
Inscription:~ Inscription details: inscription (front of mount; below photograph) in English~ Inscription quoted: 9366. Bronze figure. £30.0.0. sold to Leipzig Museum. 9373. Bronze ceremonial staff. do. 9356. Bronze figure. £25.0.0. do. Berlin Museum. ~ Inscription note: Handwritten in black ink. Description of objects 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 purchased from William Webster as follows: 9366: to Hans Meyer. Acquired by the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera), St Petersburg, Russia. Accession number: MA϶ No. 595-5. 9373: unknown. 9367: to the Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in 1900. Accession number: III C 10872. This page also depicts photograph Af,A154.41.
URL
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/EA_Af-A154-42
Sensitive Content

Digital Benin collates digital material from institutions, and some of this material is inherently colonial and contains words, terms and phrases that are inaccurate, derogatory and harmful towards African and African diasporic communities. Catalogue transcriptions, book titles, exhibition titles and museum titles may contain harmful terms. We recognise the potential for the material to cause physical and mental distress as well as evoke strong emotions. Owing to the scale of the collection’s data, a process to implement sensitive-content warnings in the displayed data is still incomplete. The material within the catalogue does not represent Digital Benin’s views. Digital Benin maintains a strong anti-colonial, anti-racist position and affirms its support for centring the humanity of historically marginalised and disenfranchised communities. Read more about the background of this statement here