Alongside the burning of the old Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860 and the Battle of Maqdala in Ethiopia in 1868, the sacking of Kumasi, during the third Anglo-Asante war, stands as one of the most infamous episodes in the history of British colonial plunder.
While a long-term loan and not a full, legal repatriation of these wondrous examples of west African goldsmithing, this renewable cultural partnership offers a new paradigm for a broader sharing of contested colonial heritage, while existing laws preventing restitution remain in place.
It might allow us to move beyond the limits of the Parthenon sculptures debate and think about a more equitable future for looted collections in so-called encyclopaedic, European museums.
