A small light brown earthenware pot with black spots. It is described as a milk vessel. Stencilled on the side of the milk vessel is the number B324.<BR> <BR> This milk vessel was part of a number of objects sent by the government of the independent Southern African kingdom of Basutoland (Lesotho) in the name of King Moshoeshoe I (1786-1870) to the 1862 International Exhibition in London. The objects were displayed at the Natal Court section of the exhibition. <BR> <BR> The Basotho pottery is described in the catalogue of the Natal Court:<BR> ‘The articles marked with the prefix B...are a contribution made to the Exhibition by the renowned Basuto Chief, Moshesh, and sent down to the Natal Government in his name...B324 Milk Vessels of [fine Basuto earthenware].’ Several pieces of Basotho pottery are also depicted in an engraved print of the Natal Court exhibit.<BR> <BR> A number of yearbooks from the exhibtion commented on the Basotho pottery: ‘Two or three articles of red pottery ware, which belonged to the famous Moshesh, are surprisingly excellent in quality. There is a smoothness and finish about them which proves considerable proficiency in the art.’ <BR> <BR> At the conclusion of the exhibition, the British collector Henry Christy purchased a number of the objects from the Natal Court. After his death in 1865 the objects became part of the Christy’s Collection at the British Museum. In 1869 the British Museum exchanged a number of doubles, including this milk vessel, from the Christy’s Collection with doubles from the Rijks Ethnographische Museum (Museum Volkenkunde) in Leiden. <BR> <BR> Several Basotho earthenware pots from the 1862 International Exhibition, including a double of this milk vessel (Af.476), are still present in the British Museum’s collection.