Saïd Abdullah of the Mayac, Kingdom of the Darfur (Sudan)

Cordier submitted a plaster cast of the bust of an African visitor to Paris to the Salon of 1848, and two years later he again entered it as a bronze. A young African woman served as the model for the companion piece in 1851 (Walters 54.2665). Regarded by 19th-century viewers as powerful expressions of nobility and dignity in the face of grave injustice, these sculptures proved to be highly popular: casts were acquired by the Museum of National History in Paris and also by Queen Victoria. The Walters' pair were cast by the Paris foundry Eck and Durand in 1852.