Africa

AFRICA (DISPLAY CASE 43 - 44)

The materials of the Horn of Africa

The vitrine is dedicated to the region of the Horn of Africa and reflects the Italian colonial involvement in the years immediately following Italian unification. Among the numerous materials from this area, a number of objects from two major collections have been chosen for display: the Robecchi Bricchetti collection and that donated by the King of Italy, Umberto I.

The engineer from Pavia, Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti (1855 – 1926), on his return from the city of Harar, had donated to the National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography in Rome a collection made up of simple, everyday objects, yet ones accompanied by a detailed catalogue in which for each object the various names in the local languages (Somalian, Oromo and Harari) are given, along with instructions for their use. Luigi Pigorini, director of the Roman museum, selected a number of these objects for an exchange with the museum in Modena.

The second collection, donated to the museum by King Umberto I, originates from an embassy sent to Rome in 1890 by the Ethiopian sovereign Menelik. On this occasion, the ambassadors offered gifts to the King, who sent them to Pigorini and the Modenese museum as a sign of his benevolence towards this institution. Unlike the Robecchi-Bricchetti collection, the King’s gifts are bereft of any ethnographic information, and they are not everyday objects but ones of royalty or rather of nobility, like the sword with sheath in red Moroccan leather and inscription in Amharic.

 1. Hippopotamus skin shield
Federal Democratic Republic of Ehtiopia
Filippi donation, 1888

 2. “Leather shield used by men and boys of various Somali, Galla and Danakil tribes, near Harar”
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Oromo people
Rebecchi-Bricchetti Collection, 1890

 3. Horn containers for mead
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Donated by King Umberto I, 1890

 4. Buffalo horn and wood cups
Shewa (historical region of Ethiopia, present day Addis Ababa area)
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Donated by King Umberto I, 1890

 5. “Wooden crowns that all the natives around Harar use a lot to carry by hand” and “grains of wood being processed to make crowns”
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Oromo and Somali peoples
Robecchi-Bricchetti Collection, 1890

 6. Buffalo horn spoons
Shewa (historical region of Ethiopia, present day Addis Ababa area)
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Donated by King Umberto I, 1890

 7. Wooden combs used by women
Harar, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Oromo and Somali peoples
Robecchi-Bricchetti Collection, 1890

 8. Saber with sheath
The tip of the sheath bears the inscription “this is the saber of the Bajrond Seium, the favorite of the king, strong and powerful Tecla Haimanot”
Shewa (historical region of Ehtiopia, present day Addis Ababa area)
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Donated by King Umberto I, 1890

9. “Hippopotamus skin shield mounted in silver belonging to Sheik Salah, chief of the Tukrir”
Republic of Sudan or Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Tukrir people
Pennazzi acquisition, 1885

 10. Buffalo horn cups with leather container
Shewa (historical region of Ethiopia, present day Addis Ababa area)
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Donated by King Umberto I, 1890

 11. Horn containers for mead
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Donated by King Umberto I, 1890

 12. Wooden spoons
Harar, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Oromo and Somali peoples
Robecchi-Bricchetti Collection, 1890

 13. Horse harness
Composed of saddle, saddle cover and halter
Shewa (historical region of Ethiopia, present day Addis Ababa area)
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Donated by King Umberto I, 1890

 14. Wooden receptacles for domestic use
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Boorana people
Robecchi-Bricchetti Collection, 1890

 15. Drum
Sakati, Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Boschini acquisition, 1894