armlet
- Museum number
- Af1866,0219.1
- Description
-
Armlet, Bitäwa, made of sheet silver, overlaid with gilded open worked repoussé and joined with a pin hinge. The repoussé work, in three registers of floral motifs, is attached to the conical silver base layer by small flattened tacks which pass through both layers along either side of the pin hinge. One small copper pin has been used to secure a damaged section towards the rim.
- Production date
- 19thC(mid)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 10 centimetres
-
Width: 10.50 centimetres
-
Depth: 17 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Conical armlets, Bitäwa were exclusively worn by warriors and were given by the Emperor as gifts for bravery and honour in battle. The repousse work on this Bitäwa would suggest that it may have been produced in either Ankobar or Gondar.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Good; some damage to upper edge.
- Acquisition date
- 1866
- Acquisition notes
- Af1866,0219.1 to 41 were purchased from Charles Henry Purday of 24 Great Marlborough Street, London for £27.00. All had been collected by the late Sir Cornwallis Harris in Shoa, Abyssinia (where he was envoy between 1841-43) and had been given by his daughter to the music publisher C H Purday 'to be sold for the benefit of the captives in Abyssinia'.
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Af1866,0219.1
