Coronation of the King of Whidah from Thomas Astley's Voyages 1745-47

ASTLEY, Thomas; CHILD, G. Coronation of the King of Whidah, April 1725 (from Marchais).
 
Engraved plate from A New General Collection of Voyages and Travels (London, 1745–47), vol. II, plate 170, no. 97, p. 374.
 
Copper engraving by G. Child after the French source of Jean-Baptiste Labat and the account of the Sieur de Marchais. Image size c. 250 × 150 mm (plate mark), on laid paper. Untrimmed or irregular margins, with scattered light foxing and edge wear, a shallow loss at the lower edge not affecting the image or caption; overall about good.
 
Large ceremonial scene showing the enthronement of the King of Whydah (Ouidah, present-day Benin): the king seated beneath a parasol before a thatched audience hall, surrounded by ranks of courtiers, soldiers, musicians, and attendants within a walled compound, with drummers and dancers performing in the foreground. The banner title reads “Coronation of the King of Whidah, April 1725 from Marchais.”
 
One of the principal visual records of the Dahomean court in the early eighteenth century, engraved for Astley’s influential English-language compilation.