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MAKONNEN, RAS
Neg. No: (L) 3453A
Neg. Size: 12"x15"
Neg. Date: NONE

copyright V&A

3453a.jpg (27592 bytes)

Sitters (left to right):

(1) Memhir G�br� Egzi'abeher (c.1835-c.1905), Chief Priest of Harar district and Father Confessor to Ras M�konnen.
(2) Fitawrari(1) Abba Tabor (c.1845-c.1916/7), General and principal guardian of Ras M�konnen's son, T�fari (later Emperor Haile Sellasie I).
(3) Mika'�l Berru (c.1875-1920's), British Agency interpreter at Aden and then Addis Ababa.
(4) Ras M�konnen (W�ld�-Mika'�l)(2) (1852-1906), Ethiopian General & Governor of Harar, cr. Ras 1890; father of Emperor Haile Sellasie I.
(5) Fitawrari(3) Hayl� Sellasse Abayn�h, Ethiopian General, and guardian of Ras M�konnen's son, T�fari (later Emperor Haile Sellasie I).
(6) K�ntiba G�bru D�sta (1855-1950), Mayor of Gondar; Emperor Menilek II's special envoy to the Khalifa at Omdurman and confidant; moderniser, first signatory to 1931 Constitution.

Date: c. August 1902.

Occasion: Visit to England for the Coronation of King Edward VII, 12 August 1902.

Location: The Lafayette Studio, 179 New Bond Street, London.

Descr: FL.

Costume:

(1) White turban; long black silk cape, embroidered either side of collar with Cross of Solomon.

(2) Lion's mane head-dress; costume of French brocade; velvet shoulder-cloak (lemd); shield made of velvet, leather, gilt and glass.

(3) Lion's mane head-dress; velvet shoulder-cloak with lion's hair collar.

(4) Lion's mane head-dress; velvet shoulder-cloak (lemd), decorated with gold emboidery; silk shirt; belt or cummerbund of silk;

(5) Lion's mane head-dress; velvet shoulder-cloak with ornate clasp; shield made of metal, leather, hide.

(6) Civilian attire - silk cloak over white cotton costume.

(All sitters) closely fitting jodphur-like white cotton trousers.

Costume Supplier: Ras M�konnen's cloak and shirt probably made by Serouphi Ebeyan, dress-maker to the Ethiopian Court.

Weapons:

Curved Ethiopian sword in leather scabbard;

(Rifle) probably Lee Speed .303 bolt action rifle (known variously in Amharic as dimoft�r, dimotf�r, or dimetfor).

Furniture & Props: Painted backdrop.

Photographer: Lafayette Ltd., 179 New Bond Street, London.

Evidence of photographer at work: -

No of related negatives: 7.

Copyright: V&A

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Provenance: Pinewood Studios; acquired 1989.

References:

Biog:

(1) Public Record Office, Kew, PRO FO 1/206

(2) PRO, ibid; E. Ullendorff, The Autobiography of Emperor Haile Sellassie I, 'My Life and Ethiopia's Progress', Oxford, 1976, pp 26 & 29

(3) PRO, ibid

(4) Hugh Montgomery Massingberd ed., Burke's Royal Families of the World, Vol II, London, 1980, p 52b; Who's Who; August B. Wylde, Modern Abyssinia, London, 1900, passim; Felix Rosen, Eine deutsche Gesandschaft in Abessinien, Leipzig, 1907, passim. E.A. Wallis Budge, The History of Ethiopia, London, 1928, Vol II pp 537-8; S.P. Petrides, Le h�ros d'Adoua, Ras Makonnen, Prince d'Ethiopie, Paris, 1965; Richard D. Greenfield, Ethiopia: A New Political History, London, 1965, pp 147-8; Hayla Giyorgis Belete, Z�nahu Le-Leul Ras Makonnen, Addis Ababa, 1972-3; The Encylop�dia Africana Dictionary of African Biography, Vol II, New York, 1976, pp 101-2;

(5) Ullendorff, op cit, p 26

(6) The Encyclop�dia African Dictionary of African Biography, Vol II, pp 70-71; PRO, ibid.

Occasion: (Visit to England) The World, Coronation Supplement, 2 July 1902, p 5a; The Times, 4 July 1902, p 3f; John Edward Coutenay Bodley, The Coronation of Edward the Seventh: A Chapter of European and Imperial History, London, 1903, p 354; "The Visit of Ras Makonnen to Europe in 1902 and the 'Spy' Cartoon of him", Ethiopia Observer, XIV, 1971, pp 295-7; Public Record Office, Kew, Ref. FO 1, 36-40; Sir Lionel Cust, King Edward VII and His Court, London 1930, p 156. (Award of K.C.M.G.) The Times, August 11 1902, p 6b. (Award of Coronation Medal) The Times, August 18 1902, p 8a; see also button labeled "background" above.

Costume (for literature on similar examples):

(Cross of Solomon) H. Rassam, Narrative of the British Mission to Theodore, King of Abyssinia, London, 1869, Vol II, p 45.

(Lion's mane head-dress) G�br� Sellass�, Chronique du regne de M�n�lik II roi des rois d'Ethiopie, Paris, 1930-1, Plates XXXII, XLVIII, LV, LVI & LX.

(Velvet shoulder-cloak) Augustus B. Wylde, Modern Abyssinia, London, 1900, p 248; G�br� Sellass�, op cit, Plates XXXIII, XLVIII, XLIV, XLVII & XLVI; Felix Rosen, Eine deutsche Gesandschaft in Abessinien, Leipzig, 1907, pp 121, 177, 283, 335, 344 & 347; L De Castro, Nella terra dei Negus, Milan, 1915, Vol II, Figs. 159, 160, 189 & 197; Jean Duchesne-Fournet, Mission en Ethiopie, 1901-1903, Paris, 1908, Vol II, pp 290-1, 294 & Plate XXII; G�br� Sellass�, op cit, Plates XIV & XLVIII; L. De Castro, Nella terra dei Negus, Milan, 1915, Vol I, Figs 158, 159, 161 & Plate CV.

(Shields) Rosen, op cit, pp 121, 335; Sylvia Pankhurst, Ethiopia: A Cultural History, Woodford Green, 1955, p 513; Harold G. Marcus, Haile Sellasie I: The Formative Years, 1892-1936, Berkeley, 1987, p 108.

(Trousers) Wylde, op cit, p 248.

Costume Supplier: (Cloak and shirt) R. Pankhurst, "Menilek and the Utilisation of Foreign Skills in Ethiopia", Journal of Ethiopian Studies, 1967, V, No 1, p 36.

Weapons:

(Sword) N. Pearce, Life and Adventures of Nathaniel Pearce, London, 1831, Vol II, pp 202-3; W.C. Harris, The Highlands of Aethiopia, London, 1844, Vol II, pp 100-101.

(Rifle) R. Pankhurst, "Linguistic and Cultural Data of the Penetration of Fire-Arms into Ethiopia", Journal of Ethiopian Studies, 1971, IX, No. 1, p 74.(4)

Reproduced: (Version) Chic, 27 September 1902, p 166b.

Acknowledgements: Professor Richard Pankhurst, Addis Ababa University; Mika'�l Hayl� Sellas�, Addis Ababa; Dr. John Mack, Museum of Mankind, London; Adrian Weller, Esq., Sotheby's. (Research) Russell Harris, Barbara Borkowy, Jane Meadows.

1. Fitawrari; later promoted to D�jazmatch.

2. Ras = "title conferred on governors of provinces"; Fitawrari = "General"; D�jazmatch = "Keeper of the King's Door" or "Count" (Burke's Royal Families of the World, Vol II, London, 1980, p 45).

3. Later promoted to D�jazmatch.

4. NB, this would appear to be the rifle depicted in the "Spy" Cartoon (by Sir Leslie Ward), Number DCCLXVI in the series "Men of the Day", published in Vanity Fair, 12 February 1903.

 

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