Wallace Collection, Manhyia Museum to Display Looted Asante Gold Regalia in 2027

The Wallace Collection in London is set to put on public display a small group of sacred Asante gold regalia that were taken by British forces during the Third Anglo-Asante War of 1873-74.

The event will take place from April 12, 2027 to August 22, 2027, under the theme “SACRED GOLD”.

The said regalia are described as being of profound spiritual, cultural and artistic importance.

The Collection, famed for its Old Master paintings, French decorative arts, and arms and armour, holds the regalia which was taken as part of an indemnity imposed on the Asante Kingdom by British forces.

The objects were later sold to Garrard & Co., the Crown Jeweller in London, where they were acquired by collectors, including Sir Richard Wallace (1818-1890).

With a striking golden head as the centrepiece, described as one of the largest historic gold objects from Africa outside Egypt, the display will investigate the deeper cultural significance of the pieces and explore their duality as trophies of war and the soul of the Asante.

According to the Wallace Collection, the gold regalia, which captivated European audiences in the 19th century, were not only symbols of wealth and power, but also important marks of identity and belonging.

They incorporate a rich cultural and spiritual vocabulary personified in human, animal and geometric forms influenced by Akan, Islamic and European designs.

The display has been produced by the Wallace Collection in collaboration with the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi.

Curator of Decorative Arts and co-curator of the display, Alexander Collins, said the display invites the public to look at the brilliance of the extraordinary gold regalia and to consider the lives, beliefs and histories they embody.

“While admired for their exceptional craftsmanship, these objects also bear witness to a painful history of colonial conflict and displacement. By presenting them within their full cultural context, we hope to encourage a deeper understanding not only of the complex journeys that brought them to the Wallace Collection, but also of their enduring significance to the Asante,” he said.

Director of the Manhyia Palace Museum, Ivor Agyeman Duah, said the objects are pre-19th-century West African ancestral creations, demonstrating gold’s malleability and everlasting value.

“Such a major public showing a century and a half after being taken speaks to their endurance, while asking necessary questions about their absence from their original home. Their nature is clear: they are signposts of a civilisation. The display with the Wallace Collection is therefore not only a memorial incarnate of the Third Anglo-Asante War of 1873-74, but a sign of the survival of these sacred objects in the present,” he said.

Director of the Wallace Collection, Dr Xavier Bray, said the display has been shaped in collaboration with the Manhyia Palace Museum, placing the histories and perspectives of the Asante people at the centre of how these objects are understood.

“In combination with our own historical accounts and research, the display brings a renewed focus to these incredible objects,” he said.

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