The Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi has received 130 additional gold and bronze artworks from South Africa and Britain, marking another major milestone in the ongoing restitution of Asante royal treasures.
These artifacts, created in Kumasi and other parts of the Asante Kingdom in the 1870s, were formally presented to the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, and the Manhyia Museum in a ceremony at the Manhyia Palace.
According to officials, the items, which are between 45 and 160 years old, showcase the rich governance systems, craftsmanship, and socio-economic symbolism of gold within Asante society.
The presentation was led by Stuart Bailey, Chief Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer of AngloGold Ashanti, together with Samuel Boakye Pobee, Managing Director of the Obuasi Mine, and Edward Ennin, former Member of Parliament for Obuasi.
Expressing his gratitude, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II commended AngloGold Ashanti for voluntarily returning artifacts that, though purchased legitimately from open markets, rightfully belonged to the Asante people.
The 110 items returned from South Africa bring the total number of restituted objects at Manhyia to 140, originally part of the Barbier-Muller Museum’s collection in Geneva, accumulated by Josef Muller from 1904.
In addition, 25 separate artifacts were donated by Hermione Waterfield, an 86-year-old British art historian and former Christie’s curator, who had worked in the Tribal Art Department since its establishment in 1971.
According to Ivor Agyeman-Duah, Director of the Manhyia Palace Museum, Waterfield’s donation includes a 46-inch wooden fontomfrom drum, which was among the items looted by British Colonial Officer Sir Cecil Hamilton Armitage during the 1900 siege of Kumasi, also known as the Yaa Asantewaa War. Armitage later became the British Colonial Governor of The Gambia.
Waterfield inherited the drum and other gold weights collected between 1967 and 1973, many acquired through Christie’s auctions.
Mr. Agyeman-Duah further noted that the late British art historian and archaeologist Timothy Garrard, a leading authority on West African metal and goldsmith arts, lived in Kumasi and Accra and significantly contributed to the documentation and appreciation of Asante craftsmanship.
Among Waterfield’s donations is a famous brass self-portrait of Timothy Garrard on his motorbike in Kumasi, sculpted in 1980 by Yaw Amankwa.
Mr. Agyeman-Duah, who personally signed the deaccession papers in London last October, announced that the newly returned items will be exhibited alongside masterpieces by Ghanaian and African artists such as Ablade Glover, El Anatsui, Ato Delaquis, Nee-Owoo, Anthony Kwame Akoto, Vincent Koffi, and Edwin Kwasi Bodjawah at the Manhyia Palace Museum.
The latest restitution reinforces global efforts to restore cultural heritage to their rightful origins, and highlights the Asante Kingdom’s enduring legacy of artistry, power, and identity.
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