Necklace
Category
Jewellery
Date
1868 (Before)
Materials
Millefiori glass, Silver
Measurements
44.9 cm (Length)
Place of origin
Ethiopia
Order this imageCollection
Hughenden, Buckinghamshire
NT 428872
Summary
Necklace of yellow, blue and millefiori glass beads and ten silver cylindrical caskets on silver chain, made in Ethiopia, before 1868. The necklace consists of a silver chain of links carrying ten silver cylindrical caskets and twelve glass beads. The caskets are decorated with rows of filigree rings or wide filigree bands. The necklace is thought to have belonged to Empress Ṭәru Wärq Wuba (also known as Queen Woyzaro Terunesh), second wife of Emperor Téwodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia (formerly Abyssinia).
Full description
This necklace was formerly believed to belong to Emperor Téwodros II (Theodore) of Ethiopia, but it is now assumed to have been made for and belonged to his second wife, Empress Ṭәru Wärq Wuba (d. 1868), also known as Queen Woyzaro Terunesh. In his essay ‘Queen Ṭǝru Wärq’s Necklace’ the scholar Richard Pankhurst states that this piece of jewellery is ‘unique’ and has contextualised it within the broader necklace-making traditions of Ethiopia due to the use of glass beads, silver cylindrical caskets, and filigree (Pankhurst 2009, p. 205). He also explains that necklaces with these elements would have been ‘highly prized by Ethiopian princesses, noblewomen, and all who could afford them’ (Pankhurst 2009, p. 203). The silver necklace has twelve glass beads. There are seven large yellow beads. Originally there would have been eight, but one has been lost. The yellow beads are ‘wheel shaped’ and uneven in size. An uneven blue bead sits at the front with all other beads arranged symmetrically on either side of it, extending the length of the chain. Each side contains a red millefiori bead. The ten silver caskets sit between the beads. It has been speculated that the caskets may contain amuletic scrolls, however Pankhurst contends that the caskets are purely decorative (Pankhurst 2009, p. 205). Each casket is attached to the chain by two silver loops. For the more decorative caskets towards the front of the necklace, the chain between these two loops is encased in a silver tube. Empress Ṭәru Wärq Wuba was of high standing before becoming the second wife of Emperor Téwodros II (c. 1818-68). She was the daughter of Dejazmatch Wube Hayle Maryam (1799-1867), ruler of much of northern Ethiopia in the 1840s. Her mother, Woizero Lakiyaye, was a noblewoman from the Tigrai region, descendant from Ras Wolde Selassie (c. 1736-1816) who had ruled the region and established his capital at Chalacot. Her father was defeated in battle by Téwodros II, and along with his sons, held in chained captivity. Following the death of his first wife, Téwodros II was guided by his advisors to marry Ṭәru Wärq Wuba, to gain from the pedigree of her illustrious lineage. Although reluctant, Ṭәru Wärq Wuba agreed to the marriage solely in an effort to ease the imprisonment and harsh conditions of her father and brothers. The marriage was not a happy one, the new Empress proving less capable of calming the impulses of the Emperor than his first wife. The Empress was also frustrated at the mere easing of her father and brother’s imprisonment, rather than their release, as she had hoped. For the duration of their marriage, the Empress believed the lineage of her husband to be less prestigious than her own, and that he was a mere usurper to the throne that her father had desired (see Arnold 1991). Provenance note: By the 1860s Emperor Téwodros II of Ethiopia had grown frustrated with a perceived lack of support from European authorities in his struggle with Islamic powers to the north of Ethiopia. In 1862 the Emperor asked the British government for an alliance and assistance in gaining weapons. After his request went unanswered, he ordered the capture of a group of Europeans, including the British consul, Captain Charles Duncan Cameron (1825-70). Queen Victoria herself intervened, requesting that the hostages be released. The Emperor refused to release them and in 1868 a British military expedition was launched. It was led by Sir Robert Napier (1810-90) and comprised 13,000 British and Indian troops and 26,000 camp followers. On Good Friday, 10 April 1862, a brief battle on the Arogé Plain below the Maqdala (Magdala) citadel reduced the army of the Emperor to a few thousand men, and on Easter Monday, 13 April, the Emperor died by suicide as the British proceeded to storm the citadel. Napier ordered the destruction of Téwodros II’s artillery. Soldiers looted the fortress and church before the Maqdala objects were gathered and auctioned off to generate ‘prize money’ for the troops. The Empress was found hiding with her son, Alemayehu, at the rear of a church. Following the death of her husband and her discovery by the British troops, the Empress was taken under the protection of Napier. She agreed that she would accompany her son to Britain. Her health declined quickly. A combination of a lung complaint and her recent anguish hastened her death before she could even reach the coast. She was buried beside her grandfather in the Church at Chalacot. The Empress’s belongings were sent to the Secretary of State for India, at the India Office in London. In turn, they were then given to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It seems that the necklace at Hughenden was not part of this collection. Instead, it was in Robert Napier’s possession before he gave it to Benjamin Disraeli (1804-81). We do not know precisely how Napier acquired the necklace. Disraeli had been Chancellor of the Exchequer when a budget for the expedition had been first discussed. He was Prime Minister by the time that the campaign was undertaken. The initial cost estimate was £5 million, although the eventual cost was almost £9 million (Blake 1966, p. 495) It is believed likely that in thanks for his support for the campaign as well as for Napier in the light of a substantial over-spend of the budget, that Napier gifted the necklace to Disraeli. With Disraeli’s support, Napier was subsequently created 1st Baron Napier of Magdala in 1868. This necklace can be contextualised within a wider collection of religious, royal and personal objects looted and subsequently purchased following the 1868 Battle of Maqdala. Maqdala objects are held in numerous collections including the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, the Bodleian Library Oxford, Cambridge University Library and The National Army Museum.
Provenance
Acquired by Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81); inherited by Disraeli’s nephew, Coningsby Disraeli (1867–1936), when he inherited the house and estate at Hughenden; following Coningsby Disraeli’s death, sold by Benjamin Disraeli’s niece, Sybil Isabella Calverley (1864–1947), together with the house and 193 acres of land, to W.H. Abbey, who vested the collection, house and land in the Disraelian Society, 1936; transferred by the Abbey family and the Disraelian Society with the rest of the collection, the house and the land to the National Trust, 1947.
References
Arnold 1991: Percy Arnold, Prelude to Magdala, Emperor Theodore and British Diplomacy, London 1991 Blake, 1966: Robert Blake. Disraeli. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1966. Pankhurst 2009: Richard Pankhurst, ‘Queen Ṭǝru Wärq’s Necklace’, Aethiopica 12 – International Journal of Ethiopian and Eritrean Studies (2009): 202-6