Sir Henry Cole, the visionary first director of the Museum, saw early on the potential of photography to dramatically extend the visual range of resources available to artists and students. In 1856 he appointed Charles Thurston Thompson as ‘Official Museum Photographer’ and the ‘first museum photographic service’ came into being.

Photographs such as these were originally collected by the National Art Library as part of a programme to record works of art, architecture and design in the interest of public education. They were valued as reference tools for students and professionals of art, architecture and design. They are now also viewed as significant artefacts in the history of the art of photography.

With the sudden death of Charles Thurston Thompson in 1868, Stephen Thompson (no relation), a commercial photographer who had carried out photographic work for the British Museum, wrote to the Department of Science and Art applying for the post of 'Official Photographer'. Thompson was informed by the board of the Department that the intention was to 'abolish' the position. While this might have been the intention, this was not exactly the case as records indicate that Thurston Thompson's sister, Isabel Agnes Cowper, assumed many of his responsibilities, possibility the first woman to hold such a role. Little is known about Cowper, but in her letter of resignation in 1891, she refers to herself as the Museum's 'Official Photographer'. Cowper held the post for twenty-three years retiring in 1891.

While Cowper took on most of the work of the Museum's photography studio, with maternal responsibilities, and subject to the social restrictions applied to woman in the nineteenth century, Cowper's freedom to travel was limited. Unlike Thurston Thompson, whose duties included travelling abroad documenting great works of art and architecture on dedicated photographic campaigns, the majority of Cowper’s work involved documenting objects in the museum collection and loans on display. The work of documenting art and architecture overseas and in other collections was divided among several photographers on the basis of their expertise.

This photograph is one from the series of objects in the British Museum photographed by Stephen Thompson and published by W.A. Mansell and Co. as a part of a campaign to make photographs of the British Museum's collection available to the public. The Library purchased two sets of the series directly from Stephen Thompson (one bound, the other stored as loose prints).