This horn was engraved by a North Nguni carver living near Newcastle in the early 1880s and depicts scenes of the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879. In addition to this previously unpublished example, there are two pairs and a single horn in the Natal Museum in Pietermaritzburg (see Tim Maggs, 'A glimpse of colonial life through Zulu eyes: 19th-century engraved cattle horns from Natal', Natal Museum Journal of Humanities, 1990, 2, pp143-162), one in the South African National Gallery (see M Stevenson and M Graham-Stewart, The Mlungu in Africa, Cape Town, 2003, no 10) and one in the Bowmint collection in Pretoria (see Elza Miles, Land and lives, Johannesburg, 1997, pp11-12).

In Maggs' opinion, this group of horns appear to be of the 'earliest, and perhaps the only surviving items from the 19th century, depicting colonial life from a Zulu viewpoint'. The graphics on this horn primarily illustrate military scenes with British soldiers but, unusually, there is no conflict depicted. There are many rows of British soldiers as well as three cannons drawn by men on horseback, presumably the Royal Artillery. Curiously there is a train with the figure of an African man seated in one of the carriages. Maggs observes that 'the rarity of these engraved items shows that this means of expression was not a part of conventional nineteenth-century Zulu craftwork'. However, cattle and antelope horns were widely utilised in Nguni material culture for making snuff spoons, boxes and pipes, etc (see Patricia Davison, 'Some Nguni crafts - part 2: the uses of horn, bone and ivory', Annals of the South African Museum, 70(2), May 1976).

The known horns would appear to be by two different hands. This particular horn is by the artist who engraved the two pairs of horns in the Natal Museum (acquired in 1901) and the example in the South African National Gallery with the engravings in bands around the horn. By contrast, the other artist engraved his designs along the length of the horn. A rare insight into the context in which these works were made is to be found in correspondence relating to the Colonial and Indian Exhibition at South Kensington held in London in 1886. A magistrate at Newcastle, responding to an official request for items for the 1886 exhibition, referred to the work of a 'native who carves horns at £1 per pair'. In the Catalogue: Natal contributions. Colonial and Indian Exhibition at South Kensington, London, 1886, there is listed: '952 Izimpondo Ezibaziweyo. Carved horns, the carving supposed to represent the Zulu War of 1879; the English and Zulu soldiers confront each other, and the English artillery and bandsmen are represented.'

We are grateful to Patricia Davison for her assistance in cataloguing this horn.