Over at the V&A, the director Tristram Hunt has announced a new ‘partnership model’. If it succeeds, the Museum will return a small but important collection of Asante treasures for exhibition in Ghana.

This might not be the groundbreaking event that smashes Britain’s state museum resistance to repatriating looted artefacts, but it could mark an important step in that direction.

Writing in the V&A’s 2021-2022 annual review, Hunt reports of a visit he made in February to Ghana, “to begin conversations about a renewable cultural partnership centred around the V&A collection of Asante court regalia”. Hunt’s visit comes nearly 50 years after Ghana first initiated discussions in the UK about returning its looted Asante heritage. So, are we getting any closer to a resolution?

There were multiple reasons why the British fought five different Anglo-Asante wars between 1823 and 1901 in the West African Kingdom that now lies within present-day Ghana. But the attraction of acquiring large hauls of Asante gold from Africa’s Gold Coast remained a constant motivator. The punitive raid on the Asante capital at Kumasi in 1874 during the Third Anglo-Asante War was to prove especially rewarding for British forces, yielding masses of gold objects and regalia (‘Asante regalia’ is a collective term frequently used for all Asante objects and ornaments).

After burning the royal palace of the Asante king, Kofi-Karikari, the commander of these forces, Brigadier General Sir Garnet Wolseley, took the unusual decision not to auction off his army’s plunder at the site of the battle, but instead transport it all to London. This way he hoped to achieve a greater financial return to offset the expedition’s expenses.

The crown jeweller Garrard & Co acquired many of the most important Asante items from the Prize Auction that followed. Garrard was the source of the greater part of the V&A’s Asante collection, including the 13 items of court regalia which are currently the subject of Hunt’s ‘partnership’ discussions with Ghana. Another client of Garrard was Sir Richard Wallace. He purchased the stand-out gold trophy head looted from Kofi-Karikari’s royal palace, now a jewel in London’s Wallace Collection. The British Museum, which holds more Asante items than any other UK collection, also purchased objects from Garrrad, although most of its collection was acquired directly from the Crown Agents.

The British Museum’s Asante regalia was the subject of the first-ever public debate about African restitution in the UK. The then head of the Asante people, Otumfuo Opoku, made the first appeal for repatriation in early 1974. After months of lively debate in the national press, the matter was put to rest in a House of Lords debate in December 1974 when Ghana’s plea for repatriation was roundly rejected.

Forty-eight years later, how confident can we be this latest initiative by the V&A will be more successful?

Hunt has held discussions at the highest level: with the current Asante king, Osei Tutu II, as well as with officials from the Ghanaian ministry of tourism, arts and culture. But no matter how committed the V&A might be to full repatriation, they remain restricted by the terms of the 1983 National Heritage Act. This prevents them from negotiating a full legal transfer of ownership. So right now, the ‘partnership model’ is based on a renewable long-term loan. A similar cultural partnership arrangement was made by the V&A in July when the Museum returned a marble head of the Greek god Eros on loan as to the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. That arrangement will be revisited after the first six years.

Discussions about lending the Asante regalia involved not just the terms and duration of the proposed loan, but also where returning treasures would be exhibited. Just like Nigeria, where a significant debate has focussed on which location returning Benin Bronzes should be exhibited, there’s been a similar discussion in Ghana over where returning Asante treasures should be displayed: in the nation’s capital, Accra, or in the Asante capital, Kumasi. Significant work is already underway to modernise and update facilities at the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi, originally the royal residence but converted into a museum in 1970.

Meanwhile, Hunt has expressed the view we should use the impending 40^th anniversary of the 1983 National Heritage Act as an opportunity to review and update this legislation. In particular, he believes that trustees in national collections should be given the legal authority to decide whether an object remains in their collection or whether it can be deaccessioned. Ghana’s long-held wish to see full repatriation depends on Hunt convincing Government it’s time to modernise this Act.

We don’t know what the Government’s attitude to such a development will be, although their current anti-woke stance doesn’t suggest a huge enthusiasm to undertake reform. But if Hunt does succeed in extending trustee powers, what does that mean for other Asante objects that are restricted by similar national museum legislation? 

Objects in the Wallace Collection are subject to the restrictions enshrined in the Museums and Galleries Act 1992. These terms reinforce Lady Wallace’s original 1897 bequest, which states the collection ‘shall remain together and unmixed with other objects’. So, repatriating the Asante gold trophy head in the Wallace Collection to Ghana would require amendments to the Museums and Galleries Act plus a new interpretation of Lady Wallace’s bequest.

Since his arrival as director, Xavier Bray has energised the Wallace Collection by introducing a new policy on loans. But deaccessioning objects might just be a bridge too far. What’s more, Bray has confirmed to Returning Heritage they've received no request in the recent past from Ghana to return their prized gold trophy head.

It won't come as a surprise that there’s precious little appetite for reform or change over at the British Museum. Almost 60 years after the British Museum Act was introduced, the Museum can claim it already operates successful partnerships with source communities, arranging long-term loans of Museum artefacts. A good example is the long-term loan by the Museum of a Potlatch mask to Canadian First Nations people. What's more, the British Museum too has confirmed they’ve received no approach from Ghana to return Asante treasures since the original request was made in 1974.

We expect to hear more details about the V&A's new partnership model before the end of this year. In the meantime, Government has its hands full with many more pressing economic issues, all of which suggests parliamentary reform of museum legislation will have to wait its turn.

Photo: Cast gold pectoral disc worn by the Asantehene’s ‘soul washer’ as a badge of office. Asante, Ghana, before 1874

Courtesy of V&A Museum, London