Iconographies

0 annotations

Provenance

6 events

Production

unknown to February 22, 1897 (day approximate)

The object was produced by Unknown member(s) of the Igun-Ematon guild in Benin City.

Looted

February 22, 1897 (day approximate) to June 1899 (year approximate)

The object was looted by February 1897 Unknown member of the British colonial military campaign on Benin from Benin Kingdom.

Unknown

1899 (approximate)

The object is known to have come into contact with John Lembcke, in Benin City.

Transfer

1899 (approximate)

The object was transferred from John Lembcke through L. Pagenstecher & Co. from Benin City to Hamburg.

Purchase

1899

The object was purchased by the MARKK Museum am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Künste der Welt from John Lembcke in Hamburg.

Restitution

December 16, 2022

The object was restituted by the MARKK Museum am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Künste der Welt to the Omo n'Oba n'Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Ọba of Benin & National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria through Carsten Brosda, S.E. Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, Abba Isa Tijani and Barbara Plankensteiner from Hamburg to Nigeria.

Institution data

MARKK Museum am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Künste der Welt

The data was transferred directly by the institution.

Last updated: 2022-06-10

Languages: german, english

Institution field	Value
Identifikationsnummer object id	C 2416
Titel designation	Klinge eines Ada-Schwertes (Eisen)
Materialien material	ANORGANISCH/Metall/Gelbguß
Heutiges Staatsgebiet des Herstellungsortes production place	Afrika/Westafrika/Nigeria/Benin-Reich
Provenienz/Name prior source provenance	Lembcke
Provenienz Objektitinerar Akteure Orte Daten provenance	John Lembcke
Provenienz/Affiliation provenance	L. Pagenstecher & Co.
Provenienz/Country provenance	Germany
Provenienz/Date of Birth provenance	19.03.1873
Provenienz/Date of Death provenance	unknown
Provenienz/First Name provenance	John
Provenienz/No provenance	25
Provenienz/Place of Birth provenance
Provenienz/Place of Death provenance	unknown
Provenienz/Profession provenance	Merchant
Provenienz/Role-Function/0 provenance	Consignor
Provenienz/Role-Function/1 provenance
Provenienz/Sex provenance	male
Provenienz/Short Biography provenance	John Lembcke (1873-?) originally came from Mecklenburg and was a Hamburg merchant. He worked as an agent for the trading company L. Pagenstecher & Co. in southern Nigeria. The company maintained several branches in Cameroon and Nigeria and traded raw rubber, among other things.Lembcke was probably employed at a branch of the firm in Warri, from where he went to nearby Benin City. There, he found objects which he eventually brought to Hamburg. Between 1899 and 1905, he sold 40 objects from the Kingdom of Benin to the museum.
Provenienz/Street provenance	Hammmerlandstr. 75 II (Address Mrs. C. Lembcke, widow)
Provenienz/Town provenance	Hamburg
Hersteller kulturhist. Herkunftsgesellschaft ethnic attribution	--/Edo
Heutiger Aufbewahrungsort Sammlung department and institution	Museum am Rothenbaum. Kulturen und Künste der Welt (MARKK)
Akquisitionsdatum accession date	1899
Alte Inventarnummer
Inventurdatum	28.07.2009
Label Text (deu)	Klinge eines Ada-Schwertes Unbekannte Werkstatt der Eisenschmiedegilde Igun Ematon / Königreich Benin, Nigeria, Datierung unklar / Eisen / Ankauf von John Lembcke, 1899, Inv. Nr. C 2416 Das zu den wichtigsten Insignien des Königs von Benin gehörende Ada-Schwert symbolisierte dessen absolute weltliche und religiöse Autorität und exemplifizierte seine Macht über Leben und Tod.
Label Text (eng)	Blade of an Ada Sword Unidentified workshop of the Blacksmiths Guild Igun Ematon / Benin Kingdom, Nigeria, date of production unclear / Iron / Acquired from John Lembcke, 1899, Inv. no. C 2416 One of the most important insignia of the Oba of Benin, the Ada sword, symbolized his absolute secular and religious authority and exemplified his power over life and death.
Maße	Breite: 60,00 cm; Höhe: 1,00 cm; Tiefe: 14,50 cm

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