Ancestral Shrine, Royal Palace, Benin City, Nigeria
place: label: Place
content: Africa
label: Place
content: Nigeria
label: Place
content: Benin (Nigeria)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Ancestral Shrine, Royal Palace, Benin City, Nigeria
abstract: label: Summary
content: One cabinet card with an albumen photographic print by Cyril Punch of a Benin altar with two bronze heads supporting ivory tusks and framing a group of brass statues and bells, an inscription on the frame reading, "Juju altar, Benin City, May 1891.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Cyril Punch was a British merchant who lived in the late 1800s and who often traded between Lagos and Benin.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Albumen print (cabinet card, black and white, 12.7 x 17.8 cm. (5 x 7 inches) (without mount))
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1891 May
container: label: Container
content: Box 1
custodhist: label: Custodial History note
content: Purchased, 1992.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: EEPA.1993-014
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Albumen prints
label: Type
content: Cabinet photographs
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The mount and the albumen print have been separated for conservation reasons.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Albumen prints
label: Genre/Form
content: Cabinet photographs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: A handwritten title on this albumen photograph reads: "Juju altar. Kings compound Benin City May 1891." This cabinet card is considered the earliest known photograph of a Benin altar and the only one known to exist prior to the British invasion of Benin in 1897. It shows the configuration of carved ivory tusks, commemorative heads, bells, a king figure with an eben (sword), and smaller bronze figures. The photograph was taken by Cyril Punch in 1891.