The Asante Ewer

The ewer is the largest surviving bronze vessel made in medieval England.

What is it?

This medieval vessel, known as the Asante Ewer, is a large bronze jug with a pear-shaped body, long neck, and triangular spout; it has a thick ridged handle ending in an openwork disc, and a heptagonal fluted lid. The ewer stands at 62cm tall and weighs nearly 19kg empty. It is decorated with an inscription in English advising the reader to display good judgement and financial prudence, as well as an array of embossed images depicting animal figures and heraldry, including a crowned version of the English royal coat of arms beneath the spout. The object has been dated by its decorations to between 1340 and 1405, and its production process suggests that it was made in an English bell foundry.

Where was it found, and when? 

Despite its English origins, the earliest documented evidence of the ewer is a photograph taken in 1884 at the palace of Asantehene Prempeh I, the king of the Asante people in Kumasi, present-day Ghana. This image, taken by photographer Frederick Grant, shows the jug alongside another medieval European vessel in the centre of a courtyard of the royal palace complex. However, little is known about how or when the vessel ended up in West Africa. In January 1896, the ewer was among the items taken from the palace by British soldiers during looting in the aftermath of the Fourth Anglo-Asante War. The vessel was sold at public auction, and was later acquired by the British Museum.