British Museum Publishes Book on the Historic Asante Jug
The British Museum’s Object in Focus series has released a new publication, The Asante Ewer, which explores the remarkable history of a single vessel and its extraordinary journey from 14th-century England to West Africa and back.
Distributed in partnership with Barnes & Noble in the United States, the book is a collaborative effort by two British curators and a Ghanaian historian, offering a detailed study of this unique object.
Known for the intricate depiction of the royal arms of England, the ewer likely traveled to West Africa between the 15th and 17th centuries.
By the 19th century, it was located in the courtyard of the Asantehene’s royal palace in Kumasi, Ghana. Following the Fourth Anglo-Asante War of 1896, British forces looted the palace, removing the ewer before setting the building ablaze. The British Museum acquired it later that same year.
Interest in the ewer stretches back decades, with major studies including Martin Bailey’s essays in The Art Newspaper (“Two Kings, their Armies and Some Jugs – The Asante Ewer,” 1993; “The Long Curious Journey of British Museum’s Asante Ewer,” 2023). Research suggests that the ewer may have arrived in Kumasi through Saharan caravan trade, possibly via North Africa or nearby Cape Coast, a point explored in Jack Goody’s Metals, Culture and Capitalism.
The book offers a comprehensive account of the ewer, examining its provenance and positioning it as one of the finest examples of late medieval English bronze casting. It highlights the vessel’s dual significance in European and African contexts — from its medieval royal symbolism to its links with historical trade in ivory and gold across West Africa.
In addition, the publication considers 19th-century collecting practices and their ties to colonialism, exploring how the ewer has been displayed in European settings and how contemporary scholarship is now incorporating its African story.
The 72-page volume, featuring more than 40 illustrations, was supported by research grants from the British Academy and the Wolfson Foundation. Its chapters include: Historical Notes, What is the Asante Ewer?, Material Values from England to West Africa, A Military Expedition and the Looting in Kumasi, Acquisition, and an Epilogue.
The authors bring diverse expertise to the work. Lloyd de Beer, PhD, is a curator of the British Museum’s late medieval collection and a specialist in medieval English art and architecture. Julie Hudson, an English curator with extensive experience in African museums, focuses on African textiles and has co-authored Silk of Africa (2002). Ivor Agyeman-Duah, Director of the Manhyia Palace Museum, has published widely on Akan proverbs, art, currency evolution, and architecture, and is internationally recognised for his contributions to cultural scholarship.
Story by Adwoa S. Danso
