Object Journeys

• A new exhibition at York Army Museum brings together three significant medieval ewers, which were made in Europe and later travelled to West Africa

• ‘Object Journeys’ delves into the diaries of soldiers from the 2nd Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, written during the 4th Anglo-Asante War when the vessels were looted from the Asante capital, Kumasi (modern Ghana)

• Objects on loan include two pieces cared for by the British Museum, including the Asante Ewer, the largest surviving bronze jug from medieval England

A new exhibition at York Army Museum, opening 24th October, investigates the complex and often personal motivations for military collecting.

The highlights of ‘Object Journeys’ are three beautifully crafted medieval ewers (lidded jugs), which made the extraordinary journey from Europe to West Africa, eventually travelling to the royal palace in Kumasi (in modern Ghana), where they were looted by British soldiers in the Anglo-Asante wars of 1896 and 1900. Two of the ewers were subsequently purchased by the British Museum, and the other is now in the collection of The Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire.

The medieval ewers on show in ‘Object Journeys’ are thought to have travelled from Europe to Africa either via trans-Saharan trade routes or along the Atlantic coast, possibly between the 1500s and 1700s. They will be shown in the exhibition accompanied by a photograph from the late 1800s showing two of them together in a courtyard of the Asante royal palace in Kumasi.

The exhibition features additional objects from Ghana from the collection of The Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire, including a sword, a stool, a loom beater and a horn, showcasing the variety of items collected in a military context. Variously presented as trophies, prizes, souvenirs, curios and specimens, these objects highlight the historical contexts in which British servicemen acquired objects in colonial warfare and on imperial garrison duties across the globe from the 17th century onwards.

The museum is working with Ghanaian communities locally and within the armed forces to give voice to alternative interpretations of the objects’ journeys, opening up new conversations around the meaning of non-European objects in military organisational culture, and their value as material witnesses of African-European encounters in a military context.

Graeme Green, curator at York Army Museum said: “We are extremely grateful for the Weston Loan and Art Fund grant which has made this exhibition possible, and look forward to welcoming visitors to discover Object Journeys from 24 October onwards.” 

Lloyd de Beer, curator at the British Museum said: “It is a remarkable and timely opportunity to bring together these three medieval vessels, which reveal the extraordinary extent of Africa’s global pre-modern connections, and acknowledge the more recent history of Britain’s violent colonial interaction with West Africa.”