{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O108443"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O108443/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BB3198/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BB3198/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BB3198","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AE8359","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AE8358","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NR2340","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NR2345","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NR2347","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NR2341","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NR2344","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NR2346","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NR2339","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NR2348","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NR2343","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NR2342","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O108443/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O108443","accessionNumber":"M.27-2005","objectType":"Crown","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This crown was probably given to the Church of Our Lady of Qwesqwam, near Gondar, as a gift from King Iyyasu II and his mother Empress Mentewwab, along with a gold chalice also in the V&A collection (M.26-2005). Iyyasu II ruled from 1730 to 1755. Around the two lower tiers of the crown are images of the twelve Apostles, Christ's closest followers. On the top section are the four Evangelists - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - who wrote the Gospels. The crown and chalice were looted by British troops following the destruction of Maqdala (Magdala) by the British Army in April 1868. They were deposited at the South Kensington Museum (later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum) by H.M. Treasury in 1872.","physicalDescription":"The crown is constructed of an inner raised and domed cylinder surrounded by three pierced tiers. The latter are supported so that they stand away from the inner cylinder. It is thought that originally fabric would have covered the cylindrical portion of the inner body. The remains of the fabric are now crumpled behind the tiers. The fabric behind the top tier is green, while that behind the lower tiers is of a darker green. All are very faded. The domed portion of the crown is decorated with the four apostles and other figures, embossed and chased. Attached to it are eight filigree bead casings, with some beads remaining. The decoration of the tiers appears to have been stamped or chisel-cut from sheet metal.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"},{"text":"silver","id":"AAT11029"},{"text":"copper","id":"AAT11020"}],"techniques":[{"text":"raised","id":"AAT237068"},{"text":"embossing","id":"AAT53826"},{"text":"chased","id":"AAT54016"},{"text":"filigree","id":"x35885"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Gold alloyed with silver and copper with filigree work, glass beads, pigment and gilded copper","categories":[{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Africa","id":"THES49019"},{"text":"Colonialism and empire","id":"THES253004"},{"text":"Military","id":"THES250701"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2006BB3198","2006AE8359","2006AE8358","2023NR2340","2023NR2345","2023NR2347","2023NR2341","2023NR2344","2023NR2346","2023NR2339","2023NR2348","2023NR2343","2023NR2342"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"83","id":"THES49711"},"free":"","case":"CA9","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Crown","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Ethiopia","id":"x35090"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1740","earliest":"1740-01-01","latest":"1740-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"probably"}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"M.26-2005","id":"O107777"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"21.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"23.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"<u>Provenance</u>: Given to the Church of Our Lady of Qwesqwam, near Gondar, by Emperor Iyyasu II and Empress Mentewwab, probably around 1740; taken from Gondar by Emperor Tewodros II, 1860s; looted by a British soldier from Maqdala, April 1868; deposited on loan at the South Kensington Museum by H.M. Treasury, 1872; formally accessioned into the V&amp;A collection in 2005 in accordance with the 1983 National Heritage Act.\n\nThis gold crown and a solid gold chalice (M.26-2005) are among some of the most famous Ethiopian objects brought to Britain as a result of the 1867-8 British Expedition to Ethiopia, a pivotal episode in both British and Ethiopian history that culminated in the death of Emperor Tewodros II, the destruction of his fortress at Maqdala, and the looting of vast quantities of Ethiopian material culture by the British Army.\n\r\nThe crown and chalice were gifts to the Church of Our Lady of Qwesqwam, near Gondar, from the Ethiopian Emperor Iyyasu II (who ruled from 1730 to 1755), and his mother Empress Mentewwab.\r\n\r\nDuring the reign of Emperor Tewodros II, the crown and chalice were brought to Tewodros’ fortress at Maqdala, in the country’s northern highlands, as part of the Emperor’s efforts to establish a treasury and church there. Tewodros had seized objects from other Ethiopian towns and churches during his military campaigns, particularly in Gondar, for this purpose.\n\r\nIn 1863, Tewodros took hostage around thirty European diplomats and missionaries stationed in Ethiopia. He took this action after letters he had written to Queen Victoria in 1857 and 1862, requesting military assistance from Britain, had gone unanswered. Following failed diplomatic attempts to secure the release of the hostages, a large-scale British military expedition was launched from Bombay in October 1867. The expedition was led by General Sir Charles Robert Napier, and comprised around 12,000 British and Indian troops.\n\r\nThe expedition reached Maqdala in April 1868, where the British army quickly overwhelmed the Ethiopian troops with enormous firepower. On 13 April, Napier’s forces launched the final attack on Maqdala that saw Tewodros’ armies entirely defeated. The Emperor took his own life.\n\r\nThe British Army then proceeded to ransack the fortress and the surrounding area, where they found many Ethiopian manuscripts, sacred objects and other valuable items. The loot from Maqdala was transported to the Talanta Plain around ten miles away, where the army’s ‘prize’ auction took place a week later.\n\r\nOne bidder at the auction was Richard Rivington Holmes, an assistant curator at the British Museum. Holmes had been sent to accompany the expedition to acquire objects for the museum’s collection. Holmes hoped to acquire the crown and chalice for his employer. However, a prolonged disagreement ensued about whether the treasures would be purchased from the army by the UK government. This led to a parliamentary debate in 1871, where British Prime Minister William Gladstone argued that the objects should never have been taken from Ethiopia.\n\r\nThe crown and chalice were eventually deposited at the South Kensington Museum (later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum) by H.M. Treasury in 1872.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Crown, gold and gilded copper with glass beads, pigment and fabric, made in Ethiopia, probably 1740","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Admassu, Emanuel, and Eyob Derillo. \"Degodding Maqdala\". In <i>Fifteen Colonial Thefts</i>, edited by Sela K. Adjei and Yann LeGall, 151–60. London: Pluto Press, 2024."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Barringer, T. J. \"The South Kensington Museum and the Colonial Project.\" In <i>Colonialism and the Objec</i><i>t: Empire, Material Culture and the Museum</i>, edited by T. J. Barringer and Tom Flynn, 11-27. London: Routledge, 1998."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Cormack, Zoe. \"The British Museum and the Abyssinian Campaign, 1867–8.\" <i>History</i> (2025)."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Heavens, Andrew. <i>The Prince and the Plunder: How Britain Took One Small Boy and Hundreds of Treasures from Ethiopia</i>. Cheltenham: The History Press, 2022."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Jones, Alexandra. \"Ethiopian Objects at the Victoria and Albert Museum.\" <i>African Research and Documentation</i> 135 (2019): 8-24."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Mercier, Jacques, <i>The Gold Crown of Magdala. </i>Apollo, December 2006, Vol. 164, p.46-53"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Patrizio Gunning, Lucia, and Debbie Challis. \"Planned Plunder, the British Museum, and the 1868 Maqdala Expedition.\" <i>The Historical Journal</i> 66, no. 3 (2023): 550-72."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Schuhmacher, Jacques. \"Museums and the Restitution of 'Spoils of War'.\" In <i>Cultural Heritage in Modern Conflict: Past, Propaganda, Parade</i>, edited by Timothy Clack and Mark Dunkley, 165-88. Abingdon: Routledge, 2022."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Spiers, Edward M. “Spoils of War.” In <i>Dividing the Spoils: Perspectives on Military Collections and the British Empire</i>, edited by Henrietta Lidchi and Stuart Allan, 19-38. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2020."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Watson Jones, Alexandra. \"Maqdala and the South Kensington Museum: 150 Years Later.\" In <i>Intersectional Encounters in the Nineteenth-Century Archive</i>, edited by Rachel Bryant Davies and Erin Johnson-Williams, 71-87. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Mark","id":"N484"},{"text":"Matthew (Saint)","id":"N937"},{"text":"Luke","id":"N436"},{"text":"John","id":"N103"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[{"text":"Looting of Maqdala (1868)","id":"V92"},{"text":"1867-8 British Expedition to Ethiopia","id":"AUTH407033"}],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"<i>Maqdala 1868</i> display, 5 April 2018 - 30 June 2019\n\nCrown\r\nክሊል\n\r\nProbably made in Gondar, Ethiopia, around 1740\n\r\nThis is one of the most prized treasures taken from Maqdala. The 18-carat, three-tiered crown is decorated with delicate filigree work and embossed images of the Apostles and Evangelists. Before they were seized by the British, the crown and the nearby chalice were taken by Tewodros from the Church of Our Lady of Qwesqwam (የእመቤታችን ኩውስቋም ቤተክርሲቲያን), near Gondar. He took these and many other objects for his treasury at Maqdala.\n\r\nGold alloyed with silver and copper with filigree work, glass beads, pigment and gilded copper\r\nDeposited at the South Kensington Museum by H.M. Treasury in 1872\r\nMuseum no. M.27-2005\n\n<i>I look at this beautiful crown and remember a telling episode that I came across in the British National Archives. In 1924 treasury officials were discussing what gift to present to Ras Tafari (Haile Selassie I) on the occasion of his official visit. They described the crowns taken from Maqdala as ‘rather barbaric headgear’.\n</i>\r\n- Dr Robbie Shilliam, Professor in International Relations at Queen Mary, University of London, and member of the Rastafari faith\r\n\r\n","date":{"text":"5/04/2018 - 30 June 2019","earliest":"2018-04-05","latest":"2019-06-30"}},{"text":"Ethiopian Crown\r\n\r\nThis crown was probably given to an Ethiopian church at the death of an emperor, by his family, to ensure continuing prayers for his soul. Around the two lower tiers are images of the twelve Apostles, Christ's closest followers. On the top section are the four Evangelists - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - who wrote the Gospels. \r\n\r\nThe crown was taken by British troops at the siege of Magdala (Mek'dala) in 1868. It was deposited at the South Kensington Museum (later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum) by H.M. Treasury in 1872.\r\n\r\nThe Ethiopian church was part of the Coptic church until 1959, when it became fully independent. \r\n\r\n\r\nEthiopia, 1600-1800\r\nGold and copper gilt, with glass beads and\r\npigment\r\nLoan: T.10 [now M.27-2005]","date":{"text":"22/11/2005","earliest":"2005-11-22","latest":"2005-11-22"}}],"partNumbers":["M.27-2005"],"accessionNumberNum":"27","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":2005,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Previous loan number","id":"THES50326"},"number":"LOAN:TREASURY.10"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-11","recordCreationDate":"2005-01-07","availableToBook":false}}