1998.208.15.7

Collection type

Photograph

Description

View of an ancestral altar or shrine (destroyed), with bronze commemorative figures and clay wall decorations, inside a damaged or ruined (largely destroyed) compound or building in Benin City, photographed in the aftermath of the British military attack on the city.

Geographical reference

Nigeria

Africa > Western Africa > Nigeria

Cultural groups

Edo

Person

Photographer Reginald Kerr Granville

Expedition or compiler 1897 Benin City "Punitive Expedition"

PRM source Hugh Nevin Nevins

Date / Period

Date of photograph: 18/02/1897 - 12/1899, uncertain

Acquisition information

Donated: uncertain

Photographic process

Print gelatin silver

Dimensions

Height x Width 120 x 165 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1998.208.15.7 Previous PRM number: B.8.15.g

Associated publications

Object: Great Benin: Its Customs, Art and Horrors, Main author: H. Ling Roth; Halifax, 1903, Page illustrated: 67, Catalogue number: figure 73, Notes: ' Juju Altar in Benin City consisting of a series of raised clay banks, the sides of which are inlaid with European plates. This mode of decoration is, however, not distinctive of Benin, as for instance, Mr. C. Punch records seeing a similar arrangement in Esupu up the New Calabar River. On the banks are carved wooden heads (see fig. 74) covered with a thin layer of brass, hammered into shape on the wood. These wooden heads are likewise furnished with a curious feather-like ornament on the left hand side but they supported no tusks. From a photograph by Mr. R. K. Granville' (printed caption)

This image (though not necessarily this print) has been published in H. Ling Roth, Great Benin: Its Customs, Art and Horrors (Halifax: F. King & Sons, Ltd., 1903), p. 67: 'Juju Altar in Benin City consisting of a series of raised clay banks, the sides of which are inlaid with European plates. This mode of decoration is, however, not distinctive of Benin, as for instance, Mr. C. Punch records seeing a similar arrangement in Esupu up the New Calabar River. On the banks are carved wooden heads (see fig. 74) covered with a thin layer of brass, hammered into shape on the wood. These wooden heads are likewise furnished with a curious feather-like ornament on the left hand side but they supported no tusks. From a photograph by Mr. R. K. Granville' (printed caption).

Search terms: Colonial military action