M0018335: Burial basket surmounted by anthropmorphic head, Gabon

Previous title, replaced October 2020: Burial basket surmounted by anthropmorphic head, West Africa

Photgraph of a burial basket made of plaited string bound in hide surmounted by anthropmorphic head. The basket would hold the bones, usually the vertebrae, of a deceased person. From M'boio, Upper Ogowe, Gabon. It was purchased at auction by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum in 1921 and accessioned in 1937 (accession number R32/1937). It is now held by the Science Museum

November 1960

1 photograph glass plate negative; 10.2 x 12.7 cm

Wellcome Collection holds the accession register which provides an entry for the item: R32/1937

Copyright is held by Wellcome Collection

Catalogue data comes from a combination of entries in the original glass plate registers, metadata created when the glass plates were digitised in the early 2000s and enhancements made by the cataloguer in 2022.

This item is fragile. Email library@wellcomecollection.org to request access to the physical item.