ETHIOPIA.

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Sketches of an Abyssinian man and a European in local armour. Two sketches attributed to M. Bardel, a French diplomat who befriended Emperor Tewodros II in the build-up to the Abyssinia Expedition. They show an Ethiopian's head in profile as a mock-up for a cannon engraving and Bardel dressed in the emperor's armour.When Charles Cameron, British consul to Abyssinia, arrived in the country in 1862 he was accompanied by one Bardel, a Frenchman who was assumed to be his secretary. A dispute led the the two to part ways, after which Bardel entered the service of the emperor. Keen to deepen his European connections, Tewodros entrusted Bardel to carry a letter to Napoleon III. However, the Frenchman never received an audience and returned with a (likely forged) reply, telling Tewodros that Napoleon did not approve of his erratic and often violent actions. He also informed Tewodros of uncomplimentary journal entries written by the Anglican missionary Henry Aaron Stern. This, combined with the emperor's growing mistrust of Europeans and anger at being snubbed by their royal houses, led him to order the arrest and torture of Cameron, Stern, and all other Europeans in 1864. The treatment of the prisoners resulted in the 1868 British expedition to Abyssinia, led by Charles Napier. The captions on the first sketch read, "Abyssian [sic] Head & the way they part their hair" and "This was done by Mr. Bardel for King Theodore & was a design of a warrior to be engraved on the celebrated big g

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