What: A multi-coloured tent, given by Secretary of State for India, Sir Stafford Henry Northcote
Where: The British Museum, Great Russell St, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 3DG
The catalogue entry reads: “Royal tent made of silk damask.”
Details
Museum number: Af1868,1230.19
Date: 19thC
Length: 358 cm
Width: 506 cm
Circumference: 1,012 cm
Acquisition name: Sir Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh
Acquisition date: 1868
What: A multi-coloured tent, given by Secretary of State for India, Sir Stafford Henry Northcote
Where: The British Museum, Great Russell St, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 3DG
The catalogue entry reads: “Royal tent made of silk damask”.
Detail
Museum number: Af1868,1230.20
Date: 19thC
Length: 310 cm
Width: 1000 cm
Acquisition name: Sir Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh
Acquisition date: 1868
What: Necklace belonging to Queen Tiru Warq, wife of Emperor Téwodros II, given by the commander of the British force, Robert Napier, to then British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli
Where: On show in Disraeli’s country home, Hughenden Manor, in Buckinghamshire, England, HP14 4LA. The site is now run by the National Trust.
The database entry includes a photo and describes a “necklace of yellow, blue and millefiore glass beads and ten silver caskets on silver chain”.
National Trust reference number: NT 428872
More reading
Pankhurst, R. 2009. Queen Ṭǝru Wärq’s Necklace Aethiopica 12 (2009) 202–206.
In Richard Pankhurst’s essay ‘Queen Ṭǝru Wärq’s Necklace’ the he states that this piece of jewellery is ‘unique’ and has contextualised it within the broader necklace-making traditions of Ethiopia due to the use of glass beads, silver cylindrical caskets, and filigree (Pankhurst 2009, p. 205). He also explains that necklaces with these elements would have been ‘highly prized by Ethiopian princesses, noblewomen, and all who could afford them’.
What: Horn, said to belong to Tewodros, later mounted in silver, engraved and turned into a pitcher
Where: Last in the hands of an unnamed buyer who paid £2,125 for it at Bonhams,in London in January 2017
According to the sale details, which include two photos:
the horn has a cover inscribed: “THE DRINKING HORN OF KING THEODORE’S WAS TAKEN FROM MAGDALA by Lieut C M Davidson ADJUTANT 4TH KINGS OWN ROYAL REGIMENT 13th April 1868”. There is a shied on the front inscribed: “TO Lieut Colonel Edmond A Shuldham OF COOLKELURE FROM HIS FRIEND Capt C M Davidson”.
There is a footnote saying Christopher Middlemass Davidson and Edmond Anderson Shuldham are linked through the South Cork Militia. It adds:
“Christopher Middlemass Davidson was born June 5th 1843 and became Ensign by purchase in the 4th Foot in Feb 1862. As Lieut. and Adjutant of the 1st Battalion, 4th Foot, he participated in the Abyssinian Campaign. He saw action at Arogee and was in the forefront in the Capture of Magdala. In 1869 he became Regimental Instructor of Musketry and with promotion to Captain in 1875 transferred to the 104th Foot. He served as Adjutant of the South Cork Militia from 1878 to 1881. In 1881 he was promoted to Major and retired from the Royal Munster Fusiliers as Lieut. Colonel in 1882. In 1889 Lt. Col. Davidson became a Gentleman at Arms. He served in the sovereign’s bodyguard under Queen Victoria, King Edward VII and King George V. He was awarded the 4th Class MVO in 1921 and died April 6th 1922.”
Details
Lot 72
Maker’s mark: WH, London 1879
Height 26.7cm
Sold for £ 2,125 inc. premium
HOME & INTERIORS
The Gentleman’s Library Sale
19 Jan 2017, 10:00 GMT
Bonhams
LONDON, KNIGHTSBRIDGE
What: Horn cup, said to belong to Emperor Tewodros, taken by Captain Thomson during the storming of Magdala, sold via Christies in April 2014
Where: Last in the hands of an unnamed buyer
The auction page has a picture of the cup and describes it as “a white metal mounted buffalo horn cup”. It is unclear who added the metal mounting.
The rim is engraved: “THE EMPEROR THEODORES DRINKING HORN. TAKEN AT THE STORMING OF MAGDALA. BY CAPT THOMPSON. 33RD REGT. 18TH APRIL 1868”.
Details:
Lot 284
Sale 5953
Robert Kime, David Bedale, Piers von Westenholz and Christopher Gibbs – The English Home, 30 April 2014, London, South Kensington
Sold for £812
Estimate £600 – £900
13 in. (33 cm.) high; 6 in. (15.2 cm.) diameter
What: A 12cm-long piece of cloth cut from the Emperor’s coat on the day he died
Where: The Cameronians Regimental Museum (Scottish Rifles), Mote Hill, off Muir Street, Hamilton, Lanarkshire, ML3 6BY, UK
According to many accounts, British soldiers swarmed around the body of Emperor Tewodros on Magdala and cut off pieces of his clothes for souvenirs.
The museum entry, which has two pictures, describes: a “small scrap of material with handwritten note” on a piece of paper.
A note on the paper reads: “A piece of the coat King Theodore had on the day he was killed. A piece of the coat was given to one of the 26th Cameronians by a French Colonel who took it off his coat – He [?] cut this off their piece”.
Accession No:
CAM.G308
The 26th Foot (The Cameronians) were a Scottish regiment which arrived too late to take part in either of the main battles in the Abyssinian Campaign.