A looted Ethiopian Maqdala shield withdrawn from an auction earlier this year is set to be returned to Ethiopia. The shield had been listed for sale by the Anderson & Garland Auctioneers situated in northern England.
However, after much pressure from the Ethiopian Heritage Authority, the auction house removed the 19th-century shield from its scheduled auction in February. In addition to that, the auction house has concluded negotiations and agreed to return the Maqdala shield.
On the face of it, this matter might appear to lack depth. Meanwhile, it goes all the way back to 1868, following the Battle of Maqdala in Abyssinia (now Ethiopia). In 1867, thousands of British troops were dispatched to the ruling Emperor’s mountain fortress at Maqdala, Abyssinia on a punitive campaign. What ensued was the crushing defeat of Emperor Tewodros II’s army and the widespread plundering of Maqdala and the church at Medhane Alem.
The British troops took away many items and historically significant artefacts. At the time, William Gladstone, the sitting Prime Minister, condemned the scale of the looting. Regardless, he and General Sir Robert Napier, who oversaw the campaign, believed the items would be better off in Britain until they could be safely returned to Ethiopia.
Now, more than 150 years later, only a handful of the items have been returned to their home country. The return of this Maqdala shield will hopefully mount much-needed pressure on British museums and the government to do the needful by way of restitution.
Fortunately, the shield has an informative inscription. Without that, it would have been difficult to put a time stamp on it. This is because the shield is not very different from a typical Abyssinian shield of that time. It reads, “TAKEN AT MAGDALA BY THE BRITISH TROOPS 13th April, 1868.” That inscription exposes its provenance and ties it to the Battle of Maqdala and the unglorified looting which took place.
Together with British scholar Alula Pankhurst and the Royal Ethiopian Trust, Prince Ermias Sahle Selassie (President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia) has secured the repatriation of the Maqdala shield. According to the Prince in a press statement, “ This shield is not just a historical artefact; it is a symbol of Ethiopia’s history and resilience.”
Before its anticipated return in November, it was loaned for an exhibition at the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio. The exhibition was scheduled to be held from the 4th to the 27th of October, 2024. Now that the exhibition is over, the Ethiopian Maqdala Shield is one step closer to homecoming.
Once the artefact arrives home, it will take its place in the National Museum of Ethiopia where it rightfully belongs.
