View source for Okukor

{{Short description|Historical bronze statue from Benin City in Nigeria}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Edo rooster.jpg|thumb|Similar example in the [[National Museum of African Art]] in Washington DC]]
'''Okukor''' is the name given to a bronze statue of a [[Rooster|cock]] from [[West Africa]], held by [[Jesus College, Cambridge]], from 1905 to 2021.  One of the [[Benin bronzes]], it was taken from the [[Kingdom of Benin]] during the [[Benin Expedition of 1897]], a [[punitive expedition]] dispatched to punish the [[Oba of Benin]] after a [[Royal Niger Company]] delegation was ambushed and killed. It became controversial in 2016 as an example of [[looted art]], with demands that the statue be [[Repatriation (cultural property)|repatriated]] back to [[Nigeria]]. It was transferred to [[Ewuare II]], Oba of Benin, and Nigeria's [[National Commission for Museums and Monuments]] by Jesus College in 2021.
== 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 the Kingdom of Benin|art of Benin]], dated between the 17th and 19th centuries. These statues of male [[chicken]]s 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 [[Benin ancestral altars|ancestral altar]] commemorating an [[Iyoba of Benin]] (a [[Queen mothers (Africa)|queen mother]]), 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").<ref>{{cite book|author=Kate Ezra|title=Royal Art of Benin: The Perls Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art|publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]|year=1992|pages=[https://archive.org/details/royalartofbeninp0000ezra/page/85 85-89]|isbn=0-87099-632-0|url=https://archive.org/details/royalartofbeninp0000ezra/page/85}}</ref>
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;<ref>[https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/316525 Rooster] Metropolitan Museum of Art Retrieved 3 May 2019.</ref> the [[Museum Five Continents]] (formerly the Museum für Völkerkunde) in Munich; the [[Pitt Rivers Museum]] in Oxford; the [[Museum of Ethnography, Sweden|Etnografiska Museet]] in Stockholm; the [[Museum of African Art, Belgrade]];<ref>[http://www.museumofafricanart.org/en/bronze-sculpture.html Bronze Sculpture], Museum of African Art, Belgrade, Serbia. Retrieved 3 May 2019.</ref> and the [[Benin City National Museum]] in Nigeria.<ref>[http://www.akg-images.co.uk/archive/-2UMDHUUR0KS4.html Cock] Benin National Museum, Benin City, Nigeria. Retrieved 3 May 2019.</ref>
Reproductions are still made in Nigeria by traditional processes.
The statue at Jesus College was described as an artistic masterpiece by ''The Guardian'''s art columnist, [[Jonathan Jones (journalist)|Jonathan Jones]].<ref>{{cite news|title=The Cambridge cockerel is no Cecil Rhodes statue – it should be treated as a masterpiece|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2016/feb/22/cambridge-cockerel-jesus-college-cecil-rhodes-nigeria|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=22 February 2016|access-date=3 May 2019}}</ref>
=== Comparable examples ===
<gallery widths="170px" heights="200px">
File:Benin, edo, gallo in lega di rame.jpg|In the [[Field Museum of Natural History]] in Chicago
File:Rooster, Benin City, Nigeria, No. 1907.44.0377 - Etnografiska museet - Stockholm, Sweden - DSC01033.JPG|In the [[Museum of Ethnography, Sweden]]
File:Benin Rooster in the National Ethnographic Museum, Warsaw.jpg|In the [[National Museum of Ethnography]], Warsaw
File:Rooster MET DT6571.jpg|[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York
</gallery>
== Okukor at Jesus College ==
[[File:Jesus College (Cambridge) shield.svg|thumb|Arms of [[Jesus College, Cambridge]]]]
Okukor was presumably among the items looted by George William Neville during the [[Benin Expedition of 1897]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Zetterstrom-Sharp|first1=Johanna|last2=Wingfield|first2=Chris|date=2019-07-01|title=A "Safe Space" to Debate Colonial Legacy|journal=Museum Worlds|volume=7|issue=1|pages=1–22|doi=10.3167/armw.2019.070102|issn=2049-6729|doi-access=free}}</ref> Neville was a Member of the Legislative Council of the [[Colony of Lagos]]<ref>{{London Gazette
| issue = 26595
| date = 5 February 1895
| page = 683
}}</ref> and a businessman. Neville looted so many objects during the campaign that as he left the city a commandant who had been part of the expedition 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.”<ref name=":0" />
In 1905 Neville presented Okukor to [[Jesus College, Cambridge]]<ref name=":0" /> where his son was a student. According to its 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.”<ref name=":0" /> The [[Crest (heraldry)|crest]] of Jesus College is a cockerel and the [[coat of arms]] include three cocks' heads. The cockerel symbol was taken from the family crest of the college founder Bishop [[John Alcock (bishop)|John Alcock]] and was a form of [[canting arms]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://brunoclaessens.com/2017/04/how-a-benin-kingdom-bronze-cockerel-suddenly-became-famous/|title=How a Benin Kingdom bronze cockerel suddenly became famous|publisher=Bruno Claessens|date=April 2017|access-date=3 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Athol |first1=Robert |title=Archive of the month: College crests |url=https://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/articles/archive-month-college-crests |website=Jesus.cam.ac.uk |publisher=Jesus College, Cambridge |access-date=24 February 2021}}</ref>
The statue was displayed in the dining hall at Jesus College until March 2016, when the college council had it removed from display and agreed to consider its future.<ref name=":0" />
== Repatriation debate ==
In the aftermath of the [[Rhodes Must Fall]] campaign, there were demands that the statue should be returned to Africa.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/feb/21/cambridge-colleges-bronze-cockerel-must-go-back-to-nigeria-students-say|author=Haroon Siddique|title=Cambridge college's bronze cockerel must go back to Nigeria, students say|work=The Guardian|date=21 February 2016|access-date=3 May 2019}}</ref> In an 11-page report to the college's student union by student campaigners in February 2016, the campaigners argued that the statue needed to be returned to the "community from which it was stolen".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jenkins|first=Tiffany|title=Dethroning historical reputations: universities, museums and the commemoration of benefactors|chapter=From objects of enlightenment to objects of apology: why you can't make amends for the past by plundering the present|publisher=Institute of Historical Research, University of London Press|date=2018|pages=81–92 |jstor=j.ctv512v68.13|isbn=978-1-909646-82-7 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Robinson |first1=Joe |title=Jesus votes in cockerel row |url=https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/9877 |access-date=24 May 2021 |work=Varsity |date=18 February 2016}}</ref>  It was removed from public display in March 2016,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/mar/08/benin-bronze-row-cambridge-college-removes-cockerel|author=Sally Weale|title=Benin bronze row: Cambridge college removes cockerel|work=The Guardian|date=8 March 2016|access-date=3 May 2019}}</ref> with the intention of repatriating it to Nigeria.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-35762834|title=Bronze cockerel at Cambridge University's Jesus College removed after campaign|publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=9 March 2016|access-date=3 May 2019}}</ref>
In 2019 Jesus College agreed that Okukor "belongs with the current Oba at the Court of Benin” and should be returned to Nigeria.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Bakare|first=Lanre|date=27 November 2019|title=Bronze cockerel to be returned to Nigeria by Cambridge college|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/nov/27/bronze-cockerel-to-be-returned-to-nigeria-by-cambridge-college}}</ref>
In December 2020, following an application by the college under s.106 of the [[Charities Act 2011]], the [[Charity Commission for England and Wales]] authorised the transfer of the bronze to the Oba of Benin.<ref>{{cite web |title=Legacy of Slavery Inquiry |url=https://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/college/about-us/legacy-slavery-inquiry |publisher=Jesus College, Cambridge |access-date=27 February 2021}}</ref> The statue was transferred to the [[National Commission for Museums and Monuments]] of Nigeria in a ceremony at Jesus College, on 27 October 2021.<ref>{{cite news |title=Cambridge University college hands back looted cockerel to Nigeria |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-59065225 |access-date=27 October 2021 |work=BBC News |date=27 October 2021}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.galerie-herrmann.com/arts/art3/Ife_Benin/65_Hahn/Hahn_Benin.htm Ancient Art from Africa - Benin & Ife], Galerie Peter Herrmann
*[http://www.hellenicaworld.com/Benin/Literature/AugustusHLFPittRivers/en/AntiqueWorkOfArtFromBenin.html Antique Works of Art from Benin, collected by Lieutenant-General Pitt Rivers], 1900
[[Category:Chickens in art]]
[[Category:Bronze sculptures in Nigeria]]
[[Category:Jesus College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Art and cultural repatriation]]
[[Category:Nigeria–United Kingdom relations]]
[[Category:Benin Court Art]]
[[Category:Animal sculptures in Nigeria]]
[[Category:Sculptures of birds]]