What: A dress, made of cotton embroidered with silk, said to have belonged to Ethiopia’s Queen Terunesh

Where: The Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Rd, Knightsbridge, London SW7 2RL

The catalogue entry, which has more images. says “This Ethiopian kamis (dress) belonged to Queen Terunesh, or Empress Tiruwork Wube, the second wife of Emperor Tewodros II and the mother of Prince Alemayehu. The Queen died about a month after the 1868 siege of Maqdala (Magdala), while being escorted by the British army to her home province. Her possessions were then sent to England, to the Secretary of State for India, who gave this garment to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1869. Items looted during the siege were also given to the Museum.”

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Crill, Rosemary, Jennifer Wearden and Verity Wilson. Dress in Detail from Around the World. London: V&A Publications, 2002. 224 p., ill. ISBN 09781851773787. p. 36.

Museum number:
400-1869