processional cross
- Museum number
- Af1868,1001.18
- Description
-
Processional cross made of brass in two parts; cross and hollow, cast shaft with lower arms. The gently tapered shaft has a deep vertical slot at the top into which the body of the cross sits and is secured in place with two iron nails. The lower arms extend horizontally out from the shaft and extend towards the body of the cross at an angle of 45 degrees where they attach to the shaft just below the body of the cross. The left lower arm has broken away from the shaft at the top.
The body of the cross has a central patée cross with flared arms set within a quatrefoil. Separating the cross from the quatrefoil are four motifs resembling crossed double lancet windows. Around the edge of the Quatrefoil are seven patée crosses with arms which flare out and join to form a square with ovoid cut outs known as dove's eyes. Between the patée crosses are six crosses formed by four rings. The outline of the quatrefoil and the centres of the crosses are engraved with linear designs.
- Production date
- 18thC(mid)-18thC(late)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 32 centimetres
-
Width: 19.70 centimetres
-
Depth: 3.50 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
This distinct style of processional cross, set within a quatrefoil with motifs resembling double lancet windows, developed in the second half of the eighteenth century.
-
See file in Eth Doc 439 in AOA Archives on transfer of these objects from former Medieval & Later Dept.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2017-2018 2 Nov-8 Apr, BM Gallery 35, Living with gods
- Condition
- Good. One of the supporting arms has broken away from the shaft.
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Acquisition notes
- Maqdala, an almost impenetrable mountain top fortress in northern Ethiopia, became the seat of power and a retreat for Emperor Tewodros II (1855-1868). The Emperor intended Maqdala to become his capital and treasury. He collected many manuscripts from churches throughout Ethiopia and brought them to Maqdala with the intention of creating a great library and seat of learning. His treasury included many fine examples of Ethiopian art including textiles, paintings and metal work.
In the 1860s relations between Tewodros and Britain became strained and relations deteriorated further when Tewodros imprisoned the British consul and several European missionaries. In 1867 a military expedition led by Sir Robert Napier was sent to free the British captives with a force made up of 12,000 men from both the British and Indian armies.
At dawn on Easter Monday April 13th 1868, Napier ordered an assault on Maqdala to destroy Tewodros’s stronghold. When his troops entered the fortress they found the Emperor already dead. Rather than surrender, Tewodros had taken his own life using a pistol which had been a gift from Queen Victoria. This last defiant act has immortalised Tewodros as a national hero for many Ethiopians.
Material taken from Maqdala was auctioned soon after on the Delanta plain. Richard Rivington Holmes, an assistant in the manuscripts department of The British Museum, had accompanied the expedition as an archaeologist. He acquired a number of objects for the British Museum, including around 300 manuscripts which are now housed in the British Library. In 1868 the Secretary of State for India, Sir Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh, donated to The British Museum two further collections of material from Maqdala.
Material from Maqdala can be found in public collections in North America and Europe as well as in private collections worldwide. When the Maqdala collections first entered the British Museum in 1868 they stimulated a worldwide interest in the archaeology, history and culture of Ethiopia which has continued to this day. For Tewodros’ library see Rita Pankhurst ‘The Library of Emperor Tewodros II…’ Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 36(1), 1973 pp 15-42.
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Af1868,1001.18
