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
Grassi Museum of Ethnology, Leipzig
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Edo designations mentioned

1 items
Ikpin
Ikpin
Related english designations
Snake Figure
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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,A154.76
PRN
EPF11277
Add ID/s
9792 (William Webster number)
Bibliography
King & Waterfield 2006: ~Webster 1907: Cat.24, fig.52
Titles
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 one brass snake's head. Photographic process.
Dimension/s
Height: 24.00 cm (page)~Width: 27.40 cm (page)
Subject/s
Dimension/s
Height: 24.00 cm (page)~Width: 27.40 cm (page)
Previous Owner
Previous owner/ex-collection: William Downing Webster
Date/s
1898-1899 (circa)
Prod. Place/s
Photographed in: London
Assoc. Ethnic Name/s
Made by: Edo
Assoc. Place/s
Associated with: Benin City
Assoc. Event/s
Inscription/s
Inscription:~ Inscription details: inscription (front of mount; below photograph) in English~ Inscription quoted: Bronze serpents head. £30.0.0. Leipzig Museum. ~ Inscription note: Handwritten in black ink. Description of object from the Kingdom of Benin, with indicative purchase price and name of vendor.
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 object depicted in this photograph was sold by William Webster to Hans Meyer before 1913. Possibly on loan to Leipzig Museum until 1929. By descent to Elisabeth Meyer until 1946. By descent to Meyer family until 2001. Purchased by the State Ethnographic Collections of Saxony - GRASSI Museum für Völkerkunde Leipzig in 2001. Accession number: MAf 34560. This page of the album also includes photographs Af,A154.75 and 77. "
URL
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/EA_Af-A154-76
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