Provenance

6 events

Production

unknown to February 22, 1897 (day approximate)

The object was produced by Unknown member(s) of the Igbesamwan guild and 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 William Charles Giffard Heneker from Benin Kingdom.

Unknown

November 23, 1898 to July 20, 1900

The object is known to have come into contact with Rollin & Feuardent, later in London.

Purchase

July 20, 1900

The object was purchased by the British Museum from Rollin & Feuardent in London.

Exhibition

1970 to 1973

The object was exhibited at London.

Exhibition

sometime in 1993 to sometime in 1997

The object was exhibited at London.

Institution data

British Museum

The data was transferred directly by the institution.

Last updated: 2025-06-10

Language: english

Institution field	Value
Registration number object id	Af1900,0720.21.a-af
Additional IDs object id	Af1900,0720.21.a-b (a-af: previously registered as)
PRN object id	EAF14635
Object Type designation	quiver ~arrow
Description description	Double quiver (a) made from gourd and vegetable fibre string. 31 poisoned arrows (b-af) with sharpened cane shafts and leaf fletching.
Ethnic name (made by) ethnic attribution	Edo
Date	16thC - 19thC
Production place production place	Made in: Nigeria
Findspot place collected	Found/Acquired: Benin City
Materials material	gourd ~fibre ~cane ~leaf
Dimensions dimensions	Height: 60.80 cm (a)~Width: 20.00 cm (a)~Depth: 9.80 cm (a)~Height: 56.30 cm (b-af (max))~Height: 38.20 cm (b-af (min))~Width: 1.30 cm (b-af approx)~Depth: 1.00 cm (b-af (approx))
Exhibition history exhibition history	Exhibited: 1970-1973, London, Museum of Mankind, Divine Kingship in Africa 1993-1997, London, Museum of Mankind, Great Benin: a West African Kingdom
Condition condition	Good; one arrow has misisng point; one arrow has split and damaged point.
Associated events event	Associated Event: British Expedition to Benin City - Feb 1897
Acquisition name (acquisition) provenance	Rollin & Feuardent
Acquisition name (previous) provenance	Previous owner/ex-collection: General Sir William Charles Giffard Heneker
Acquisition date accession date	1900.0

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