Carved Wooden Leopard
This carved wooden leopard is a work of art from the Kingdom of Benin, in present day Nigeria. Within the beliefs of the Kingdom of Benin, leopards were important animals.
Sardinia has a long history of jewellery making unique to the island, often associated with costumes worn at local festivals. Sardinian jewellers are known for working in gold and coral. This long necklace, with amulet pendants, is made of silver but still uses distinctive bony, coral spines in its decoration.
The coral that grows off the Sardinian coast is world famous for its rich colour and has been used for thousands of years. It was known locally as ‘red gold’ thanks to the wealth it brought the region. The central pendant’s floral decoration is embroidered in silk, a technique commonly used on the costumes that jewellery like this was worn with.
Percy travelled through Sardinia and Corsica between October and December 1923. He bought around 50 items of local jewellery while he was there – the only objects he bought back from that particular trip.
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Western Lowland Gorilla Skull (NH.MER35.11)
This skull of a female Western Lowland Gorilla was collected on 5 March 1935, between the towns of Batouri and Lomie, an area of Cameroon that was under French colonial control from 1922 until 1960.