3-021-319 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Relics from Abyssinia: gold and silver chalices, 1868. Two '...objects of interest and value which formed part of the spoil captured by the British army at the storming of Magdala...[One is] a chalice of silver...it was a present from the late Emperor Theodore to one of the churches at Gondar, as recorded in an inscription round the rim...the large chalice, with an inscription in the Amharic language round its bowl and with another on the base...is of solid pure gold...The inscription records its presentation by King Adam Segud, who lived about A.D. 1560, to a church at Gondar, and states its height and value. The name of the maker, Waldo Giorgis, is inscribed on the foot, and the stem is richly chased. These two most interesting specimens of Abyssinian goldsmiths work were obtained by Mr. R. Holmes, F.S.A., of the British Museum, who has been accompanying the expedition as archaeologist. They were found in the possession of a private soldier...Mr. Holmes recognised their importance, and instantly purchased them for the national collection. This is a most fortunate circumstance, as they would probably have been beaten up and carried off, a fate which there is good reason to believe has befallen many objects of interest and value'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868.