{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O86941"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O86941/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011EU4681/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011EU4681/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2011EU4681","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011EU4682","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O86941/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O86941","accessionNumber":"1424-1870","objectType":"Vestment","titles":[{"title":"Vestment","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Sleeveless, hooded white satin robe.  It is is decorated with an applied piece of crimson satin embroidered in gold and silver thread and pearls. There are embroidered inscriptions in Arabic on the hood, and Coptic on the red satin.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silk (textile)","id":"AAT243428"},{"text":"linen (material)","id":"AAT14069"},{"text":"gold thread","id":"x30128"},{"text":"pearls","id":"AAT11827"}],"techniques":[{"text":"embroidering","id":"AAT53653"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Silk satin and linen embroidered in gold thread","categories":[{"text":"Ecclesiastical textiles","id":"THES48962"},{"text":"Embroidery","id":"THES48960"},{"text":"Africa","id":"THES49019"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2011EU4681","2011EU4682"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"TOP","id":"THES385857"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Vestment","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Ethiopia","id":"x35090"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1748","earliest":"1743-01-01","latest":"1752-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"in Arabic script","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"O God your priests ... justice and your good people are always joyful","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"at proper left, on hood. Translation made by colleagues from Institute of Ethiopian Studies, January 2009."},{"content":"in Arabic script.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"When you pray, may God hear you. May invoking the name of the God of Justice give you victory. Amen, Halelujah.","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"at proper right, on hood. Translation made by colleagues from Institute of Ethiopian Studies, January 2009."},{"content":"in Arabic script.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"Emmanuel, in the name of the Father, by the Patriarch Father Markos, May God give him long life. This year 1464.","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"at lower edge, on hood. Translation made by colleagues from Institute of Ethiopian Studies, January 2009."}],"objectHistory":"<u>Provenance</u>: Looted from Maqdala, Ethiopia, 1868. Purchased by the South Kensingon Museum from R. D. Kempe, 1870.\r\n\r\nThis hooded robe was purchased for £10, from R. D. Kempe. A note in the museum's accession register says that it was 'taken at Magdala'.\n\nThis indicates that the robe was part of the vast quantities of Ethiopian material culture looted by British troops during 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 (often referrred to in Britain as 'Theodore') and the destruction and looting of his fortress at Maqdala.\n\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\nOn 10th April 1868, a brutal battle took place between the Emperor's troops and the British army at Arogee, a plateau below Maqdala. The British army very quickly overwhelmed Tewodros’ soldiers with enormous firepower that resulted in heavy Ethiopian casualties. 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\nThe embroidery on this robe may have been carried out by Egyptian craftsmen.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Robe of the Abuna (Metropolitan) of Ethiopia, white and red silk satin with embroidery in gold thread, Ethiopia, about 1748","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Stylianou, N., “Producing and Collecting for Empire: African Textiles in the V&A 1852-2000” (PhD thesis, University of the Arts London, 2012), 349-50."}],"production":"Dated 1464 according to Coptic calendar; the Coptic year 1464 ran from 30 September 1747 until 28 September 1748.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[{"text":"Looting of Maqdala (1868)","id":"V92"},{"text":"1867","id":"AUTH407033"}],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["1424-1870"],"accessionNumberNum":"1424","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1870,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-13","recordCreationDate":"2003-12-09","availableToBook":true}}