Okukor

Okukor is the name given to a bronze statue of a cock from West Africa, held by Jesus College, Cambridge. One of the Benin bronzes, it was taken from the Kingdom of Benin by the British expedition of 1897, sent to punish the Oba of Benin after several British officials were killed. It became controversial in 2016 as a symbol of looted art and colonialism, with demands that it be sent back to Nigeria.

Background

The cock is an important animal in the religion of Benin, treated as a worthy animal sacrifice to deities such as Olokun, a spirit of wealth and of the sea. More than two dozen bronze cocks (Eson) are known in the art of Benin, dated between the 17th and 19th centuries. These statues of male chickens were typically cast using a lost wax process, modelled with comb, tail and spurs, and incised patterns representing feathers, mounted on a large square base which was often decorated with a guilloche pattern. They may have been ceremonial objects, displayed on an ancestral altar commemorating a queen mother (Iyoba), an unusual example of a male animal being used to commemorate a woman, attributable to the traditional power and privileges of the queen mother. The Oba's senior wife, and thus often the mother of a future king, was given honorific title "Eson, Ogoro Madagba" ("the cock that crows at the head of the harem").[1]

There are examples of historic Benin bronze cocks in many museum collections, including the National Museum of African Art in Washington DC; the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York;[2] the Museum Five Continents (formerly the Museum für Völkerkunde) in Munich; the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford; the Etnografiska Museet in Stockholm; the Museum of African Art, Belgrade, Serbia;[3] and the Benin City National Museum, in Benin City, Nigeria.[4]

Reproductions are still made in Nigeria by traditional processes.

The statue at Jesus College, Cambridge was described as an artistic masterpiece by The Guardian's art columnist, Jonathan Jones.[5]

Okukor at Jesus College

Okukor was presumably looted by George William Neville, a captain in the British Army during the 1897 Benin Exhibition.[6] Neville looted so many objects during the campaign that as he left the city the British commandant advised him to “push off as quickly as possible, as the fact of so many ancient heirlooms leaving the city may attract attention and possibly lead to molestation”.[6]

In 1905 Neville presented and bequeathed Okukor to Jesus College.[6] According to its own records, the college “agreed gratefully to accept” the “gift of the bronze figure of a cock which formed part of the spoil captured at Benin, West Africa and to thank Mr Neville for making this appropriate gift”. Neville had been a student at the college.[7] The heraldic arms of Jesus College include three cocks, a form of canting arms in honour of its founder Bishop John Alcock.[8]

The statue was displayed in the dining hall at Jesus College until 2016, when the college council had it removed from display and agreed to consider its future.[6]

Repatriation debate

In the aftermath of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign, there were demands that the statue should be returned to Africa.[9] It was removed from public display in March 2016,[10] with the intention of repatriating it to Nigeria.[11] Despite constant appeals from Prince of Benin Gregory Akenzua, the Okukor remains stored at the college.[12]

In 2019 Jesus College agreed that Okukor "belongs with the current Oba at the Court of Benin” and should be returned to Nigeria, although it did not specify a date by which this would take place.[13]

Comparable examples
  • Example in Washington DC
  • Example in Stockholm

References
  1. Kate Ezra (1992). Royal Art of Benin: The Perls Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 85-89. ISBN 0-87099-632-0.
  2. Rooster Metropolitan Museum of Art Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  3. Bronze Sculpture, Museum of African Art, Belgrade, Serbia. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  4. Cock Benin National Museum, Benin City, Nigeria. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  5. "The Cambridge cockerel is no Cecil Rhodes statue – it should be treated as a masterpiece". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. 22 February 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  6. Zetterstrom-Sharp, Johanna; Wingfield, Chris (2019-07-01). "A "Safe Space" to Debate Colonial Legacy". Museum Worlds. 7 (1): 1–22. doi:10.3167/armw.2019.070102. ISSN 2049-6729.
  7. Colin Freeman (8 October 2016). "Cambridge under pressure to return looted Benin bronze cockerel - but won't return it in case it gets stolen again". The Telegraphy. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  8. "How a Benin Kingdom bronze cockerel suddenly became famous". Bruno Claessens. April 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  9. Haroon Siddique (21 February 2016). "Cambridge college's bronze cockerel must go back to Nigeria, students say". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  10. Sally Weale (8 March 2016). "Benin bronze row: Cambridge college removes cockerel". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  11. "Bronze cockerel at Cambridge University's Jesus College removed after campaign". BBC News. 9 March 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  12. Monty Fynn (1 April 2017). "Prince renews appeal for Benin Bronze Cockerel during visit to Cambridge". Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  13. Bakare, Lanre (27 November 2019). "Bronze cockerel to be returned to Nigeria by Cambridge college". The Guardian.
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