Description (Physical description)
Catalogue card notes: "Bronze bracelet - Conventionalised decoration of plaiting - cast in cire perdue method"

Event Date
Author: maa

Context (Field collection)
Presumed to have been taken from the palace of Oba Ovọnramwẹn Nọgbaisi in Benin City during the 1897 Benin Expedition as Webster became the pre-eminent dealer in looted Benin material
Event Date 2/1897
Author: rachel hand

Context (Other owners)
Catalogue card notes "Apparently bought from Oldman"
Event Date 1927
Author: Katrina Dring

Context (Related Documents)
Catalogue card reads: "27.304 | Benin / S. Nigeria / Bronze bracelet - conventionalised decoration of plaiting - cast in cire perdue method. / Apparently bought from Oldman."
Stamped in black ink, rectangular border: "RIDGEWAY BEQUEST"
Red circular sticker on bottom right of catalogue card.
Event Date 1927
Author: Katrina Dring

Context (Amendments / updates)
Bequeathed by Professor Sir William Ridgeway in 1927

Event Date 8/6/2000
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
Traces of copper corrosion found.
Event Date 21/5/2001
Author: Katrina Dring

Conservation (Remedial)
CON.2017.3676 | Remedial
Event Date 13/1/2017
Author: Kirstie Williams

Description (Labels & Markings)
Old inscription written on the inside of the bracelet in white ink reads '11339.', probably a Webster sale number. The old museum paper label pasted to the inside of the bracelet includes the accession number '27.304.'
Event Date 2/7/2021
Author: Benjamina Dadzie

Context (Auction / Sale)
Purchased by Ridgway from dealer William Ockleford Oldman. However, the object bears the sale room stock number 11339, which appears to be a Webster number. Oldman did sell objects that had come from Webster’s collection and this is probably the case here.

Event Date 10/3/2023
Author: rachel hand

Context (Amendments / updates)
Presumed to have been acquired in the attack on Benin City by British forces in 1897.
The phrase 'British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin' has been added to the source field based on the recommendations of Digital Benin. This explicitly links the object to the capture of Benin City by British Navy Forces and members of the Nigerian Coast Protectorate Forces on 18 February 1897.
The queries from '?Benin City' have been removed.
The period field has been updated to the '15th-19th century'.
(https://digitalbenin.org/provenance/139; accessed 10.3.2023)

Event Date 10/3/2023
Author: Rachel Hand

Context (Other)
One of 99 objects on deposit from the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Nigeria, pending a physical return to Nigeria.
Event Date 27/1/2026
Author: Jan-Henrik Hartung

Context (Other owners)
In July 2022, the University of Cambridge agreed to repatriate 116 artefacts, including this object, taken from Benin City by the British military in February 1897. A legal transfer of ownership to the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria, took place on 27 January 2026.
The source field has been updated accordingly.
Event Date 27/1/2026
Author: Jan-Henrik Hartung

Description (Physical description)
Ẹgba. Lost wax cast bronze penannular bracelet decorated with raised semi-circular, arched and linear plait motifs.
Event Date 17/6/2026
Author: Benjamina Dadzie