Details
DAVID LIVINGSTONE (1813-1873).
A Rhinocerous Horn Bowl, made from an animal killed by David Livingstone in order to feed his men in Central Africa, ca. 1854. Silver-mounted rim and base, the rim hall-marked Birmingham 1890, with a central silver disk added in 1895 on presentation by Stephens to his nephew, inscribed "E.L.B. From 'Unkey' H.E.S. 1895". (Diameter: 110mm; height: 24mm).Provenance: David Livingstone, and given by him to Henry E. Stephens, Acting Lieutenant, HMS Frolic.
According to an accompanying hand-written note, the horn had been "given to Lieut: Stephens of H.M.S. "Frolic" [by] the Doctor [Livingstone] when taking him from Quilimane E.C. of Africa to Mauritius in 1856. This bowl was made by the Native workmen in the town of Mozambique." On arriving at the mouth of Zambezi at Kilimane in 1856, Livingstone completed his 5,000-mile journey across sub-Saharan Africa, the first authenticated crossing by a European and "one of the two or three greatest feats of land exploration in history" (David Livingstone and the Victorian Encounter with Africa, p.36). HMS Frolic had been watching for his arrival, and on an earlier call for Livingstone had lost eight of its crew on the bar. Henry Stephens was Acting Lieutenant on board the Frolic in 1856 when Livingstone and one of his African companions, Sekwebu, sailed from Kilimane to Mauritius, taking advantage of the offer of free passage there by the London Missionary Society at the Cape. Sekwebu did not survive the exposure to so many strange experiences, and drowned himself before reaching either Mauritius or England.
A Rhinocerous Horn Bowl, made from an animal killed by David Livingstone in order to feed his men in Central Africa, ca. 1854. Silver-mounted rim and base, the rim hall-marked Birmingham 1890, with a central silver disk added in 1895 on presentation by Stephens to his nephew, inscribed "E.L.B. From 'Unkey' H.E.S. 1895". (Diameter: 110mm; height: 24mm).Provenance: David Livingstone, and given by him to Henry E. Stephens, Acting Lieutenant, HMS Frolic.
According to an accompanying hand-written note, the horn had been "given to Lieut: Stephens of H.M.S. "Frolic" [by] the Doctor [Livingstone] when taking him from Quilimane E.C. of Africa to Mauritius in 1856. This bowl was made by the Native workmen in the town of Mozambique." On arriving at the mouth of Zambezi at Kilimane in 1856, Livingstone completed his 5,000-mile journey across sub-Saharan Africa, the first authenticated crossing by a European and "one of the two or three greatest feats of land exploration in history" (David Livingstone and the Victorian Encounter with Africa, p.36). HMS Frolic had been watching for his arrival, and on an earlier call for Livingstone had lost eight of its crew on the bar. Henry Stephens was Acting Lieutenant on board the Frolic in 1856 when Livingstone and one of his African companions, Sekwebu, sailed from Kilimane to Mauritius, taking advantage of the offer of free passage there by the London Missionary Society at the Cape. Sekwebu did not survive the exposure to so many strange experiences, and drowned himself before reaching either Mauritius or England.