Of Caribbean ‘white elephants’

Britain amassed extensive collections from its Caribbean colonies from the seventeenth century onwards, including significant holdings of pre-Columbian archaeological materials. But it is not until the nineteenth century that there is more substantive documentation for some of the most prized artefacts now held in British museum collections, including wooden duhos (ceremonial chairs). These were circulated between collectors before their deposit in museums; their movements, in some instances, echoing the equally political and strategic gifting of these objects among the originating Indigenous communities. Their discovery – whether on-island or in antique shops – and the discussions they elicited among those who acquired or were given them, expose contemporary ideas about their nature and value. This paper focuses on one rare category of pre-Columbian Caribbean artefact – the duho – as represented by examples acquired by six collectors during the height of British imperialism. It traces these objects’ movements from discovery or collection to museum acquisition through the hands of not only Caribbean locals, colonial officials and military men, but also some of the key figures in British ethnographic collecting, including Augustus Wollaston Franks and William Oldman.