Sir Richard Wallace: The Collector review – glories from the age of global plunder

Wallace Collection, London
This sumptuous show in the gallery’s new exhibition space explores treasures amassed by the museum’s singular founder

A gold face glitters under a spotlight in the cave of curiosities that is the Wallace Collection’s new exhibition space. Is it a French rococo whatnot? A Renaissance objet d’art? These are the kinds of European treasures this museum is famous for. But no. The beaten gold mask that holds you enthralled in this gorgeous exhibition was made in the Ashanti empire in west Africa in the 18th or 19th century. It is a masterpiece of African art that has lain tucked away in the abundance of the Wallace Collection since Victorian times.

When the British empire was at war with the gold-rich Ashanti empire in 1873-74, this astonishing object was looted from the royal palace in Kumasi. It ended up in the hands of the royal jeweller Garrard and Co, which sold it to the wealthy and omnivorous collector Richard Wallace.

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