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
Staatliche Ethnographische Sammlungen Sachsen und Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
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Objects Mentioned

1 objects
Commemorative Head
OBJEKTE_ID
1713170
Staatliche Ethnographische Sammlungen Sachsen und Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Edo designations
Uhunmwu-Elao

Edo designations mentioned

1 items
Uhunmwu-Elao
Uhunmwu-Elao
Related english designations
Commemorative Head, Udo-Style Head
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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,A154.13
PRN
EPF11214
Add ID/s
9472 (William Webster number (top right proper))~9471 (William Webster number (top left proper))~9491 (William Webster number (bottom right proper))
Bibliography
King & Waterfield 2006: ~Webster 1900: Cat.24, fig.47 (9491)
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 four objects: wooden commemorative head (top right proper); wooden rattle staff with cowrie shells (top left proper); brass commeorative head (bottom right proper); wooden commemorative head (bottom left proper). 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: 9472. Carved mask. £15.0.0. Sold to Dresden Museum. 9471. do. do. £25.0.0. Sold to Dresden Museum 9491. Bronze do. £25.0.0. Sold to Dresden Museum~ Inscription note: Handwritten in black ink. Descriptions of object 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 sold by William Webster between 1898-1913. Commemorative head (9471: bottom left proper) was purchased by Arthur Baessler in 1900. Donated by Baessler to the State Ethnographic Collections of Saxony - Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden. Accession number: 16155. Note: the staff and commemorative head at left proper are allocated a single number: 9471, presumably misunderstood from the photograph as a single object. This page of the album also includes photographs Af,A154.14 (left proper).
URL
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/EA_Af-A154-13
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