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Colour photograph of a wooden drinking cup with four legs, and a black and white photograph of Sekukuni, an African ruler Add to board
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African Ruler Sekhukhuni and Large Drinking Cup

This large wooden drinking cup belonged to a chief called Sekhukhuni (also commonly spelled Sekhukhune) who ruled in southern Africa. In 1881 Sekhukhuni was captured by a British soldier, Sir Garnet Wolsey, and was photographed shortly after. Wolsely presented the cup and photograph to a local museum after his retirement to Dorset, England (The Red House Museum at Christchurch), and Leeds acquired the two items as a transfer in 2009.

Picture note: The handwritten caption on the photograph uses the word ‘Kaffir’, which was a racist slur at the time and remains so today.

 

Image © Leeds Museums and Galleries