An unremarkable pot from Lesotho - provenance research in practice

Illustrated London News, 1862-07-05, p. 20

Provenance research seeks to unravel the history of an object. Sometimes, exceptionally interesting stories are connected to the humblest of objects, like this small, chipped 19th century pot with black spots. In this Collection Story we follow the surprising history of this humble pot from Lesotho tracing its route to the Wereldmuseum Leiden.

Author: François Janse van Rensburg

Unravelling the provenance of an object

This small reddish-brown pot with black spots is not much to look at. The pot shows signs of its age and wear and tear: it is chipped in several places and scuffed on the bottom. Its story and its long journey from Lesotho to Leiden makes it one of the most interesting pieces in the Southern African collection at the Wereldmuseum.

Earthenware pot from Lesotho, 27 x 16 cm, ca. 1862. (RV-74-1123)

An exhange with the British Museum

The pot arrived at what is now Wereldmuseum Leiden on 5 August 1869 as part of a collection of ca. 200 objects from around the world. This collection came from the British Museum which had exchanged doubles from its Christy collection with doubles of objects kept by the museum in Leiden.

At the time, museums often expanded their collections with exchanges like this. The British Museum did not provide any information about the pot except that it was ‘a clay bowl for holding milk, etc.’ and was made by Basotho people in South-Africa. So, where did the pot come from?

Provenance research is especially important when looking into looted objects or those requested for restitution to their countries of origin. However, these are not the only reasons why it is important for museums to research the provenance of their collections.

Sometimes the most interesting stories are attached to the humblest of objects. This blog post highlights provenance research into a seemingly unremarkable object and shows both the process and the potential of provenance research.