Review
Contents
Foreword
At the museum
6
10
17
21
The collection
Exhibitions
Conservation and scientific research
Debate, dialogue and learning
Across the UK and the world
30
35
39
46
50
56
58
National exhibitions and programmes
Media and publications
International exhibitions and programmes
Fieldwork and research
A History of the World in 100 Objects
Financial support
BM across the globe
Appendices
62
62
65
66
70
75
I know yesterday.
I know tomorrow.
As for yesterday,
that is Osiris.
As for tomorrow,
that is the sun god.
Spell 17,
Book of the Dead
Exhibitions
Supporters
Community groups
Staff
Volunteers
World loans
Foreword
‘The best radio programme I’ve ever heard,’ wrote one admirer
– and she’d been listening for 65 years. A History of the World in
100 Objects drew praise from across the globe. The innovative
collaboration between the BM and BBC Radio 4 produced
an immense popular response, not least in attracting visitors
to the Museum itself to see the objects that had so enticed
them on the radio.
In 2010, 5.9 million people visited the BM in London,
making it for the fourth year running the UK’s top visitor
attraction. They could explore the afterlife with rare Egyptian
papyri, visit a South Africa Landscape in the Forecourt, or
enjoy Renaissance feasts or Nigerian films. Fascinating objects
from Afghanistan were displayed in an exhibition that included
ivories looted from the National Museum of Afghanistan
between 1992 and 1994, dramatically found and generously
purchased by a donor for return to Kabul.
World Conservation
and Exhibitions Centre
Proposed design by
Rogers Stirk Harbour
+ Partners, overlooking
Montague Place
The World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre has
received outstandingly generous support. The major building
project at the BM will improve facilities and extend the BM’s
national and international presence, increasing the number
of loans the BM will be able to make and supporting joint
projects in conservation, research and training. In September
2010, the Sainsbury family through the Linbury Trust, chaired
by Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover, and the Monument
Trust, established by the late Simon Sainsbury and now
chaired by Stewart Grimshaw, donated £25million towards
the £135million project – one of the largest gifts to the arts
in the United Kingdom in recent decades. Major support
has also been given by the Wolfson Foundation, Garfield
Weston Foundation, Clothworkers’ Foundation, A.G. Leventis
Foundation and the family of Constantine Leventis, as well as
a continued pledge by the Government to provide significant
Trustees
(1 April 2010 to
31 March 2011)
Chief Emeka Anyaoku
Ms Karen Armstrong
Professor Sir Christopher Bayly
Lord Broers of Cambridge FREng, FRS
Sir Ronald Cohen
Mr Francis Finlay
Mr Niall FitzGerald KBE
Dame Liz Forgan OBE
Professor Clive Gamble
(from August 2010)
Ms Val Gooding CBE
Mr Antony Gormley OBE
Mr Stephen Green
(to December 2010)
Ms Bonnie Greer OBE
Ms Penny Hughes
Mr George Iacobescu CBE
Dr Olga Kennard OBE
Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws QC, FRSA
Sir Richard Lambert
Mrs Edmée P. Leventis
Mr David Norgrove
Lord Powell of Bayswater KCMG
(to December 2010)
Sir James Sassoon
(to May 2010)
Professor Amartya Sen
(from July 2010)
Lord Stern of Brentford Kt, FBA
Baroness Wheatcroft of Blackheath
(from August 2010)
financial support. In addition, we are delighted that the
Heritage Lottery Fund have confirmed their initial support.
The Trustees are immeasurably grateful for the timely
generosity of these donors, as well as of those who wish to
remain anonymous. Fundraising continues, but the building’s
importance and success is in no doubt. It will raise BM
conservation, scientific research, collection management
and exhibitions to a new level of efficiency and excellence.
The WCEC will be a fitting platform for the international
scholarship and collaborations that BM staff have strived so
hard to achieve, often in less than ideal working conditions.
The BM seeks to be a museum for the nation not by building
outposts, but by collaborating with regional partners, expert
as they already are in their own collections and audiences.
Partnership galleries such as this year’s new Roman gallery at
the Yorkshire Museum have been a particular success. Such
galleries draw on the BM collection to support and extend
regional collections and produce a richer visitor experience than
would otherwise have been possible for the public across Britain.
Times are difficult, and the BM remains thankful for the
financial support of all its donors and supporters. Most recent
among them has been Citi’s generous sponsorship of the new
presentation of the Money Gallery, which draws on the BM’s
rare collection of more than one million coins, from the 7th
century bc to the present day. When funds are short, it is often
difficult to make great acquisitions, so we should like particularly
to thank the Friends of the British Museum, who gave
£725,000 toward the purchase of the Nimrud ivories, possibly
the most important addition to the Museum’s collection in the
year under review. The BM’s increasing presence nationally and
internationally has also drawn support from a wide range of
individuals and bodies across the globe, and we are pleased to
see those wider endeavours so honoured. This year we lost the
remarkable contribution of three Trustees. Both Stephen Green
and James Sassoon answered the greater challenge to serve
in Government, and Lord Powell came to the end of his
second term. My grateful thanks to both on behalf of the BM.
For their hard work and dedication, the Trustees would
like to thank all BM staff and volunteers. Without them, the
collection could not achieve its distinctive scholarship, care,
public presence and affection in the hearts of visitors worldwide.
Niall FitzGerald KBE
Chairman of the Trustees
At the museum
The Pugilist, 2000–5
Donations to the
collection included this
wooden sculpture by
Tanzanian artist
George Lilanga
(1934–2005). It
combines modern
Makonde carving with
the bright colours of the
Tingatinga School.
(65 x 20 x 19 cm)
7
The collection
Drolls and other British enthusiasms
In 2010, the BM print collection gained its largest acquisition
in the past 100 years. The major purchase of 7250 mezzotints
– with support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund,
BM Friends, The Art Fund and others – will shed invaluable
light on British social history and fill significant gaps in
the collection. Mezzotint, or ‘la manière anglaise’, was the
medium that made English prints so widely celebrated on the
Continent. The selection ranges widely – 17th-century ‘drolls’
or humorous scenes; an album of satires assembled by the
Duchess of Northumberland in the 1770s; 19th-century prints
based on fashionable paintings and people of the day.
The prints will be made available worldwide as part of the
BM’s highly praised and much accessed online collection of
high-resolution prints and drawings, freely available to all to
download, examine in detail and enjoy.
The BM collection is a vast public resource. It is subject to
constant change and reinterpretation as we ask new questions
of the past. The enormous success in 2010 of the BM/BBC
Radio 4 series A History of the World in 100 Objects, which drew
several million listeners across the UK and the globe each
week, showed just how inspiring the collection and its stories
could be. How the BM works with the collection will be
transformed by the new World Conservation and Exhibitions
Centre, with improved collection stores, better facilities to
transport BM loans and a consolidated research environment.
Building work on the site began in April 2010 and construction
is due to be complete in late 2013.
From Nimrud to the modern Middle East
Ivories from Nimrud,
8th–7th century BC
Two carved figures
(above and opposite)
are among a collection
of 6000 Assyrian ivories
– one of the most
significant acquisitions
to the BM collection
in recent times.
(Height 4.4 and 10.4 cm)
The Nimrud palace ivories date from the 9th to 7th century bc.
A few were carved in the Assyrian capital of Nimrud in
northern Iraq, but most were produced in Phoenicia (modern
Lebanon), Syria and perhaps Egypt. Excavated in Iraq between
1949 and 1963, and objects of great beauty, they are a major
source of information about this period of ancient history.
Significant funding from the British Museum Friends
(raised in part by an appeal that saw over 1800 individual BM
Members donate), along with contributions from The Art
Fund, National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Headley
Trust, has enabled the BM to acquire over 6000 of these
outstanding artefacts and fragments. The ivories are an
important addition to the BM’s Middle East collection and
form its largest acquisition since the Second World War. With
the Assyrian reliefs and other artefacts from Nimrud, the
acquisition of the ivories ensures that a great range of Nimrud
materials can now be seen and studied together.
Promoting public understanding of the Middle East
remains an essential aim of the BM. To ensure the changing
history of the region is recorded for future generations, a group
of individuals has established a fund to purchase works on
paper by contemporary Middle Eastern artists. The Modern
Middle East Fund enables acquisitions such as Endless Prayers
XIII (2008) by Iranian artist Y.Z. Kami. A national collection
of contemporary Middle Eastern photographs, held jointly
with the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), has also been
established with the support of The Art Fund. Featuring
photographers from Morocco to Lebanon, Palestine to Saudi
Arabia, the collection will feature in a major exhibition at
the V&A in 2012.
The collection
Ornaments and beakers in ancient Britain
BM-led fieldwork at a Bronze Age monument in Ringlemere,
Kent uncovered many burial goods. Among the year’s
donations to the collection were Anglo-Saxon items from this
excavation. The BM also purchased Treasure items from the
excavation that included silver rings threaded with amber
beads, and a complete and unblemished glass claw beaker.
After initial conservation, the vessel was put on immediate
display to the public, where it plays a key role in the BM
galleries of medieval Europe.
Further west, the history of Britain was redrawn off the
coast of Salcombe in south Devon, when the first evidence
of tin trade in Bronze Age Britain was uncovered by a local
archaeology group. The tin ingots were among an important
hoard of 320 ornaments and weapons from 1300–800 bc
acquired by the BM in 2010, with the support of The Art
Fund and others.
Condoms, clothes and clocks
Claw beaker, late 5th–
early 6th century
To fashion this masterful
Anglo-Saxon glass
beaker, the claws were
applied and pierced
while still hot. This
allowed liquid to run
into them when the
beaker was filled.
(Height 16.5 cm)
Gifts to the BM remain essential to developing the collection.
Contemporary African artworks donated by an anonymous
collector included The Pugilist, a wooden sculpture by
Tanzanian artist George Lilanga, and Sida, a painting
about HIV and AIDS made of oil and condoms on canvas
by Congolese artist Chéri Samba. In January 2011, at the
opening of the display Adornment and Identity: Jewellery and
Costume from Oman, supported by BP, the Under-Secretary
of the Ministry of Tourism of Oman announced that the
costumes on loan would be given to the BM. Fifty complete
8
The British Museum Review 2010/11
9
The collection
Despair, 2003
The Art Fund Collection
of Middle Eastern
Photography, acquired
jointly with the V&A,
included Sukran
Moral’s exploration of
estrangement
and migration in
modern Turkey.
(66.5 x 100 cm)
English long-case
clock, c.1780
A group of clocks
donated to the BM
included this one by
G. Savage of
Huddersfield, with
an oak case and
weight-driven 30-hour
movement (below).
(227 x 56 x 26 cm)
Child’s bonnet, 2010
Omani costumes
donated to the
collection by the
government of
Oman included
this embroidered
hat from Nizwa.
(Height 18 cm)
English long-case clocks and three hoop-and-spike clocks
were among a donation by Michael Grange of 164 items that
document the history of British clock-making outside London
in the 18th century.
Such donations enable the BM to maintain the variety of
the collection. They complement a wide range of acquisitions
large and small. In 2010/11 these included 34 Afghan war
rugs; a fan’s football helmet from the 2010 World Cup in
South Africa; an 18th-century drawing by Swiss artist Jean
Étienne Liotard showing two western ladies dressed in Turkish
costume; a porcelain beaker made in Staffordshire in 1787
showing children at work; and a rare Southern Song dynasty
painting from 13th-century China depicting a falconer
and a horse.
Improved spaces
For the six million or so annual visitors to the BM, how the
permanent collection is presented is central to their experience.
The latest scholarship is incorporated, as are new acquisitions.
Such a heavily used public space requires constant care and
refurbishment. 2010 was the tenth anniversary of the Korea
Foundation Gallery, and a year of activities began with the
repapering by BM conservators of the gallery’s sarangbang or
Korean
sarangbang
conserved
Conservators paste
sheets of hanji paper
with wheat starch
before applying them.
scholar’s study. Some of the work was carried out in situ, where
the public could watch and ask questions about this finely
honed and delicate process. Conservators later perched in the
narrow space over the study’s roof tiles, in order to clean them
on-site, rather than dismantle the display and remove it
from public view.
The Sainsbury Africa Gallery was modified to highlight
objects relevant to the summer’s South Africa Landscape in the
BM Forecourt. A new display was designed for the marble
frieze showing Centaurs and Lapiths from the Temple of
Apollo at Bassae. Work undertaken in the Sudan, Egypt and
Nubia gallery enabled the BM to install recent donations of
rock art and rock gongs from the fourth cataract of the Nile,
where BM staff have been engaged in a programme of
rescue archaeology.
11
Exhibitions
Exhibitions at the BM have grown in recent years. Record
numbers of visitors have attended The First Emperor, Hadrian
and other major exhibitions. The Round Reading Room has
been a dramatic platform for Chinese tomb warriors and
Aztec masks, but its function as a display space is limited by
its size and restricted access. In the new World Conservation
and Exhibitions Centre, a tailored exhibitions suite will permit
larger, more flexibly designed international exhibitions. The
building, designed by architects Rogers Stirk Harbour +
Partners, will hold over 1000sq.m. of exhibition space.
Italian Renaissance drawings
Head of a woman,
c.1475
A charcoal portrait by
Florentine goldsmith
and painter Andrea del
Verrocchio – one of a
hundred Renaissance
drawings from the BM
and the Uffizi featured
in Fra Angelico to
Leonardo.
(32.4 x 27.3 cm)
‘The first thing you’ll notice’, wrote Richard Dorment in the
Telegraph of the BP Special Exhibition Fra Angelico to Leonardo:
Italian Renaissance Drawings, ‘is the intensity with which visitors
are looking, engaging with their mind as well as with their
eyes.’ This major exhibition held in collaboration with the
Uffizi Gallery in Florence drew over 116,000 people to the
Reading Room. The 100 drawings selected from the BM and
the Uffizi featured masterpieces by some of the greatest artists
of the Italian Renaissance, including Botticelli, Mantegna,
Raphael, Michelangelo and Titian. These exquisite works
were contextualised by the inclusion of related paintings,
classical sculpture and specially commissioned films showing
relevant sites in Venice and Florence.
Time Out noted that ‘after taking us to China, Iraq, Iran,
India, Mexico and Nigeria, the British Museum’s latest show
looks no further afield than cinquecento Italy – but this too is a
journey of discovery.’ It was a ‘magnificent exhibition’ said
the Wall Street Journal. Rachel Campbell-Johnston called it ‘the
finest show of its kind’, taking the absorbed visitor on a trip
through time as if ‘you are back in the workshop, looking over
the shoulder of the master absorbed in his thoughts’.
Award-winning landscapes
The BM’s annual collaboration with the Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew, to plant a world landscape in the BM Forecourt
has proved an immense success. The previous year’s Indian
Summer programme sponsored by HSBC included an India
Landscape, and won two Hollis Sponsorship Awards in March
2010 and two Arts & Business Awards in November 2010 for
both brand awareness and international reach. Judges praised
the BM and HSBC for having ‘used culture to engage
global audiences’.
Bird of paradise
A colourful strelitzia
was among the plants
bedded down in the BM
Forecourt to create a
South Africa Landscape
in collaboration with the
Royal Botanic Gardens,
Kew, in summer 2010.
Hunefer papyrus,
c.1280 BC
Rituals of the afterlife
depicted in the Ancient
Egyptian Book of
the Dead include the
opening of the mummy’s
mouth, shown here.
(Height 39 cm)
Exhibitions
In 2010, the South Africa Landscape, sponsored by Barclays,
brought into bloom African lilies, bright orange treasure
flowers and shocking pink fig marigolds amid a range of
flora from the Eastern and Western Capes. Related displays
from continental Africa inside the BM included the major
exhibition Kingdom of Ife: Sculptures from West Africa, sponsored
by Santander with additional support provided by the A.G.
Leventis Foundation, and Impressions of Africa, a display of
money, medals and stamps from South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria,
Zimbabwe and other African states. Both proved popular,
with Kingdom of Ife garnering a string of superlative reviews.
‘Nobody –’ wrote Waldemar Januszczak in the Sunday Times,
‘and I mean nobody – in Britain should miss it. Why? Because
it changes our understanding of civilisation. Because it
rewrites the story of art. Because it is a once-in-a-lifetime
revolutionary event.’
The 2011 Australian Season, supported by Rio Tinto,
features an Australia Landscape: Kew at the British Museum and
runs from April to October 2011. It is accompanied by a
variety of events and two exhibitions, Out of Australia: Prints
and Drawings from Sidney Nolan to Rover Thomas and Baskets and
Belongings: Indigenous Australian Histories.
Reading the Book of the Dead
That death could be the subject of so much vitality startled
most reviewers of the BP Special Exhibition Journey through
the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. The ancient book
is a varying compilation of spells to guide the dead safely
through the afterlife, and exists in many forms. The drama of
the deceased, the spells to ward off perils, the attendants and
12
Ancient Egyptian
Book of the Dead
Visitors admire the
full 37-metre run of
the fragile Greenfield
Papyrus, specially
mounted for display in
the exhibition Journey
through the Afterlife.
(Height 46–49.5 cm)
The British Museum Review 2010/11
13
Section Running Head
14
Afghanistan at the BM
President Hamid Karzai
admires a 1st-century AD
gold crown from Tillya
Tepe, at the opening of
the exhibition Afghanistan:
Crossroads of the
Ancient World.
The British Museum Review 2010/11
15
judges, were set out in hieroglyphics and drawings on fragile
papyri, sarcophagi, stone blocks and amulets.
Over 192,000 visitors attended, including over 20,000
schoolchildren and their teachers. Many found the displays
astounding, showing as they did the Ancient Egyptians’
‘passion for the world’, as the Guardian put it. The Independent
encouraged its readers to hurry to Bloomsbury to revel in the
‘sheer beauty’ of the books. The exhibition climax was a
great curving display of the 37-metre Greenfield Papyrus,
the longest Book of the Dead in the world, never before
shown in its entirety and specially conserved to permit this
rare public outing.
The exhibition was the first of three focusing on journeys
of faith, and is followed by Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and
Devotion in Medieval Europe in 2011 and Hajj: Journey to the Heart
of Islam in 2012.
Stations of the Cross,
1915
A display showing the
range of Eric Gill’s
work included these
early designs for 14
relief sculptures at
Westminster Cathedral.
(27.5 x 24.1 cm)
Cultural crossroads in Afghanistan
Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World, supported by Bank of
America Merrill Lynch, with additional support from the Neil
Kreitman Foundation, was ‘a must-see exhibition’, according
to Night Waves (BBC Radio 3). The displays explored four
millennia of culture at this crossroads along the Silk Road, for
Afghanistan linked the great trading routes of ancient Iran,
Central Asia, India, China and Europe. Its unique location left
an extraordinary legacy.
The exhibition was opened by Mr Hamid Karzai, President
of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, in March 2011.
The displays were a significant opportunity for the public to
consider not just the politics of Afghanistan, but its culture,
with over 200 loans from the National Museum in Kabul, all
of which survive only because they were hidden during the
turbulent decades of the late 20th century. Rarely seen exhibits
ranged from gold treasure from 2000 bc, the earliest found
in Afghanistan, to ivory carvings of women, exquisite inlaid
gold jewellery, bronze statuettes, precious glass vessels and a
coruscating gold crown of the 1st century ad that folded up
for easy transport.
Impressions of the world
‘Even by its own high standards, the British Museum this
spring is surpassing itself,’ wrote the Financial Times. The paper
judged The Printed Image in China from the 8th to the 21st Centuries,
alongside Fra Angelico to Leonardo and Kingdom of Ife, one of ‘a
trio of shows of great aesthetic beauty and conviction, taking
us to the heart of three different civilisations’. Attracting
Exhibitions
Bird and Bamboo
(detail), c.1633
A vivid Ming Dynasty
depiction of a bird
preening was one of
about 100 prints
that celebrated 14
centuries of printing
on paper in China.
(25.4 x 27.2 cm)
nearly 230,000 visitors, the exhibition celebrated the invention
of printing on paper in China ­– from an early repeated
woodblock print of the Medicine Buddha to a contemporary
scene from the People’s Republic, showing two men and a little
girl chatting over tea in a noodle shop.
Over 340,000 people visited Picasso to Julie Mehretu: Modern
Drawings from the British Museum Collection. The Independent found
the exhibition of drawings by Picasso, Matisse, de Chirico,
Kiefer, Richter, Jim Dine, Judy Chicago and others ‘fun,
intriguing and . . . enlightening.’ ‘If this is what the British
Museum is up to with its collection purchases, one can only
say, “Good on them”.’
Literal impressions were the focus of Eric Gill: Public and
Private Art. The display set coin, stamp and medal designs
alongside engravings and sculpture to get to the heart of the
inventor of the typeface Gill Sans and one of Britain’s bestknown sculptors.
The varieties of religious experience
Jewish Living and Giving was one of many smaller displays
that took religion as its focus. In 1759, the year in which the
BM opened to the public, the Jewish merchant and scholar
16
The British Museum Review 2010/11
Conservation
and scientific research
Solomon da Costa donated an astonishing group of Hebrew
books and manuscripts that had originally belonged to
Charles II to the BM. They were displayed among a
fascinating array of Jewish artefacts in the collection. These
included a wedding ring associated with London’s Bevis Marks
synagogue and an 18th-century embroidered Torah binder.
Treasures from Medieval York included the gold and sapphire
Middleham Jewel, engraved with Christian images of
the Trinity and the Nativity, while Images and Sacred Texts:
Buddhism across Asia used artefacts to explain the ‘three jewels’
of Buddhism: the Buddha, dharma (teachings) and sangha
(monastic community). Seals from the Islamic World were
displayed in Lasting Impressions, supported by the Heritage
Lottery Fund.
Jewish wedding
ring, 1699
The Hebrew inscription
on this gold ring
celebrates the marriage
of Joshua and
Judith Tsarfathi.
(Diameter 2.2 cm)
Torah pointer,
19th century
A recently acquired
silver Torah pointer from
Plymouth Synagogue,
the oldest Ashkenazi
synagogue in the
English-speaking world
still in use.
(Length 26 cm)
The BM is known across the world for its standards of
conservation and scientific research. The very discipline of
museum conservation, its philosophy and techniques, have
in some areas largely been shaped by the BM’s historical
work on the collection. The gradual development of such
specialisations has left the BM with a number of discrete sites,
each working in separate facilities that were never intended
for the technologies now put to use in them. The new World
Conservation and Exhibitions Centre is a forward-thinking
solution to this problem. The Centre will bring together these
dispersed disciplines in up-to-date facilities that will permit
the finest inter-disciplinary work that can be achieved for the
collection and for the many partners worldwide who consult
the BM on collections care.
A History of the World in focus
To coincide with the BM’s collaboration with BBC Radio 4,
A History of the World in 100 Objects, the objects themselves
became miniature displays set amid the galleries of the
permanent collection. Visitors could pick up a special guide to
the 100 objects, with maps directing them across the BM and
the world history that its unparalleled collection represents.
The popular Asahi Shimbun Displays explore a single
object and in 2010, three of the objects chosen featured in
the radio series: an Ice Age swimming reindeer, a Mayan
relief of royal blood-letting and an Akan drum, brought to
Virginia from West Africa around 1700. These were followed
by Agents of the Buddha, a pair of 17th-century wooden Japanese
sculptures of the Bodhisattvas Fugen and Monju, and Sikh
Fortress Turban, a display focusing on the history, symbolism
and conservation challenges of a 19th-century cloth turban.
Studying Perugino
Mellon Research Fellow
Satoko Tanimoto uses
Raman spectroscopy
to analyse the materials
used in a late 15thcentury Italian drawing.
Conservation and display
Exhibitions are opportunities to devote significant attention to
different parts of the collection, offering new prospects for indepth study. Conservation of over 160 Egyptian papyri, stone
and wood coffins, black-varnished divine figures and scribes’
implements for the exhibition Journey through the Afterlife was
not just essential to permit the fragile items to go on display,
but became a focus of popular interest, both in the exhibition
18
The British Museum Review 2010/11
Ancient Egyptian
wooden gazelle
Conservator Lynne
Harrison secures a
statuette of a protective
deity from the tomb of
Horemheb, who reigned
c.1323–1295 BC.
Areas of brittle, black
bitumen are consolidated
by injecting adhesive
between the coating and
wood.
itself, where conservation techniques were explained, and
online, where videos on YouTube showed BM conservators
treating the objects.
While analysis of materials and techniques in advance of
an exhibition of paintings is common, such an investigative
campaign of large numbers of drawings is still a rarity. The
three-year long exploration of 47 Italian Renaissance drawings
in the exhibition Fra Angelico to Leonardo, with support from the
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, broke new ground in the close
collaboration between scientists, conservators and curators.
Non-invasive analysis of the works uncovered new information
about the papers and media the artists chose, hitherto unseen
underdrawings by artists such as Mantegna and Leonardo,
and fascinating evidence of working methods. The discoveries
were presented in the exhibition and its accompanying
publication, while detailed discussions of the findings were
given in a sold-out conference and special journal, Italian
Renaissance Drawings: Technical Examination and Analysis. It
was this in-depth scholarly attention which made the BM –
according to Jonathan Jones, writing in the Guardian – ‘the
ideal place for such an exhibition’.
19
Conservation and scientific research
Begram ivory
conserved
A conservator cleans
the surface of an ivory
inlay from Begram,
made in Afghanistan in
the 1st century AD.
Stolen ivories from Afghanistan
Tough decisions in conservation
Sikh turban,
19th century
Conservators and
members of the Sikh
community construct
a tall turban in order
to remount its original
metal elements.
(Height 71 cm)
Conservation can reveal the destructive relationship between
the component parts of an object. A 19th-century turban for
a Sikh warrior posed a particular challenge. Iron-based black
dye in the cotton has made the cloth disintegrate beyond
repair and has placed the metal elements on it at risk of
corrosion. Should one remove the metal pieces and fabricate
a new turban on which to mount them? Although removal of
the metal parts would be best for their long-term preservation,
their assemblage in the context of the original turban is very
important, with its message of Sikh military prowess.
With the advice and help of the Sikh community, the BM
was encouraged to conserve the metal elements separately and
construct a new turban on which to mount them (setting aside
the original cloth in safe storage for future study). Conservators
worked with Sikh contributors, using traditional techniques to
tie 37 metres of cloth into a towering 71cm-high turban.
They based their work on a 1900 photograph of the original
turban, and the results were shown in an Asahi Shimbun
Display in 2011.
In 2011, the BM showed 20 fragments of intricately carved
ivories to the public for the first time since war broke out in
Afghanistan in 1979. They were stolen during the looting of
the National Museum of Afghanistan between 1992 and 1994,
but were later reacquired by a private individual on behalf of
the National Museum.
With support from the Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Art Conservation Programme, the BM conserved these
outstanding 1st-century ad ivories from the ancient city at
Begram, today better known for its airbase than its art works.
Featured in the exhibition Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient
World, they formed part of a larger discussion of projects to
safeguard the country’s cultural heritage, after which they
return to the National Museum in Kabul. A book on the
history, conservation and examination of the Begram hoard
by curator St John Simpson was published by the British
Museum Press.
Collaborating internationally
The BM is part of a larger scholarly community. The
collection and its experts are often consulted by and
collaborate with other colleagues. A project with Japan’s
20
The British Museum Review 2010/11
Renmei Scroll Mounting Federation, funded by the
Sumitomo Foundation, has seen experts from both Japan
and the UK conserve rare Japanese paintings in the BM’s
Hirayama Studio.
The Chinese Admonitions Scroll of ad 500–800 – one
of the 100 objects in the BM/BBC Radio 4 series, A History
of the World in 100 Objects – saw visits by a deputy director
of the Palace Museum, Beijing, among others from abroad,
while investigations were being undertaken to assess its state
of conservation and understand its materials and techniques
using the latest scientific methods.
Colleagues from many countries came to London to visit
the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research,
such as Faeza Al-Rubaye from the Baghdad Museum who
came to study the conservation of archaeological ivories.
BM conservators themselves travelled abroad to assist with
conservation and training in Turkey, South Africa,
Kenya and Sudan.
Encouraging the public awareness of science
Horse jawbone,
12,000 BC, and
hologram
Discovered near
Llandudno, this fragment
decorated with zig-zag
patterns is the oldest
known work of art
from Wales. To explore
new ways of sharing
collections, a colour
hologram (lower image)
stood in for the original in
an innovative exhibition at
Llangollen Museum.
The Royal Society celebrated its 350th anniversary in 2010.
The BM contributed to its Capital Science programme by
running 15 public events from March to July under the banner
‘See Further with Science’. Talks and hands-on participation
using portable scientific equipment encouraged visitors to look
beneath the surface of objects, be they cuneiform tablets from
the Middle East, rock art from Africa or chessmen found on
the Isle of Lewis.
BM conservators and scientists are engaged throughout the
year to promote public understanding of their work, whether
through ‘Conservation in Focus’ sessions for schools and young
audiences or the annual ‘Zoom In: A Closer Look at Science’,
an open laboratory held in the Great Court each March as
part of National Science and Engineering Week.
Scientific research is also disseminated online, through
lectures across the UK and abroad, and in the annual British
Museum Technical Research Bulletin, which in 2010 featured
studies on diverse artefacts – a 19th-century Ethiopian church
painting; medieval metalwork from the Carpathian Basin; and
a 14,000-year-old decorated jawbone of a horse, the oldest
known work of art from Wales.
Debate, dialogue and learning
Africa’s superpower?
A Guardian Public
Forum at the BM
explored not just
Nigeria’s past, but
its future. Speakers
included Dr Abdul
Raufu Mustapha, Chika
Unigwe, Dele Ogun and
Father Matthew Kukah.
Work at the BM is increasingly engaged with the public eye.
The collection has become much more than what is on display
in the galleries. From collaborative research to children’s
storytelling, the BM encourages visitors to approach the
collection in a variety of ways. The new World Conservation
and Exhibitions Centre currently under construction will
extend these possibilities. Exhibitions and public events will
be offered, as will practical and other learning programmes.
Dialogue with the nation and the world will be increased
by a purpose-built hub that will provide a secure, efficient
environment for transporting loan objects in and out of the
building with minimum risk.
Debating the world’s future
Public programmes at the BM aim to stimulate and
challenge the visitor. A series of sold-out debates linked to
exhibitions took culture as a starting point to discuss politics,
the environment and immortality. During the Kingdom of
Ife exhibition, a Guardian Public Forum at the BM asked
whether Nigeria might be Africa’s superpower. Chaired by Jon
Snow, the debate brought together a theologian, a barrister,
an academic and a novelist to create a rounded portrait of
Nigeria today.
Andrew Marr chaired a debate held in conjunction with
the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Conserving Biodiversity:
Whose money, whose rules? united plant conservationists with
representatives of government and business to challenge
received opinion about the tensions between environmentalism
and economic development. A Spectator discussion was held
in November in connection with Journey through the Afterlife. The
Ancient Egyptians had clear protocols for life after death, but
speakers asked how modern cultures have fared dealing with
the question of our own mortality. Bonnie Greer also chaired
a debate with Henry Louis Gates Jr, Isaac Julien and others on
‘the image of the Black’ in western art.
In February 2011, the Sudanese-born author Jamal
Mahjoub discussed with Egyptian novelist and political
commentator Ahdaf Soueif how Ancient Egypt is represented
in modern cultures. Soueif spoke of the Ancient Egyptian
ideal of Maat (truth and justice) that features in the Book
of the Dead and talked passionately about how the same
concerns had inspired the recent revolution in Egypt. She
noted how the protests had echoed Ancient Egyptian poems
such as ‘The Eloquent Peasant’, reflecting the same values in
22
The British Museum Review 2010/11
23
Debate, dialogue and learning
ancient and modern Egyptian notions of justice. As well as
her first-hand accounts of Tahrir square, she and Mahjoub
discussed the continuity of ancient culture and its importance
for modern Egyptian identity.
A moving community
Our Hearts in
the Balance
A moving theatre project
brought care-home
residents, their carers,
families and the public
to the BM galleries to
dramatise the stories of
men and women at the
end of their lives.
Community events draw in those whom the BM might not
normally reach, bringing groups into the Museum or working
with them more flexibly off-site. Our Hearts in the Balance ­– a
reference to the Ancient Egyptian belief that the deceased’s
heart would be weighed in the afterlife – was a community
project connected to the exhibition Journey through the Afterlife.
The BM worked with three groups: Modernisation
Initiative for End of Life Care, Rosetta Life and the National
Theatre Studio. Using storytelling and music, the team worked
with care home residents and their carers to develop a script
addressing how we prepare for death and what we wish to
leave behind. On 27 November 2010, alongside a community
evening view of the exhibition – itself about death and the
afterlife in Ancient Egypt – the group performed the work in
the BM Great Court, the Wellcome Trust Gallery of Living
and Dying and the Asia gallery.
The heart-felt connections between those participating,
their carers, families and friends, and spectators who were
welcome to watch made for a moving performance on an
issue many are uncomfortable discussing. The night was a
joyous rendering of the important ideas and beliefs that the
collection represents, not just for past societies but for every
one of us today.
Schools, libraries and centres of discovery
Programmes of learning, both formal and informal, make use
of the BM as a vast resource for young people. In 2010/11,
221,000 schoolchildren booked visits at the BM, nearly half
of those from overseas. The extensive programme of taught
sessions included helping children to understand chronology
and change in medieval Britain, and everyday life in ancient
Greece. Students of art and design were encouraged to
develop their own ideas in the galleries, drawing inspiration
from some of the greatest works of antiquity.
Training teachers is essential in order to reach pupils
beyond the BM’s immediate access. In November, children’s
authors and literacy experts led gallery workshops for over 120
primary school teachers. The one-day course showed how to
use the BM and its collection to develop children’s writing. A
partnership with the University of East London, supported by
Copper head from Ife
Late 14th–early
16th century
(Height 33 cm)
Wole Soyinka
Events linked to the
exhibition The Kingdom
of Ife included a soldout talk with Nigerian
writer and Nobel prizewinner Wole Soyinka.
People & Place
This BM-led national
programme brings
young people across
the UK into museums
and galleries.
the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), trained
240 student teachers how to use storytelling techniques to
bring museum objects to life for their pupils.
The BM’s learning resources encourage families and young
people to explore the collection. Families can follow museum
trails through the galleries, or take up family backpacks to
draw and engage with the objects on display. The Samsung
Digital Discovery Centre has proved popular with schools and
families. With its innovative use of podcasts, photography and
film, it is a leader in digital learning. As one teacher wrote, ‘the
children were absolutely thrilled with the videos [they’d made]
. . . Could we come again next year, please?’
Youth panel at the BM
Keeping relevant is a question of listening to new audiences.
BMuse, the BM’s first youth panel, is a new direction not
just for its 16­–25-year-old participants, but for the BM itself.
Working with the community partnerships team, panel
members organised ‘Old Objects, New Voices’, an event
showcasing ‘Talking Objects’, a BM programme supported
by John Lyon’s Charity in London and the Esmée Fairbairn
Foundation nationally that gets young people thinking and
talking about objects differently.
24
The British Museum Review 2010/11
Films produced in the BM by young people were shown
in the galleries. BMuse gave talks to their peer group and
organised boisterous Shout Outs: debates in which everyone
in the room had to move according to their agreement or
disagreement with the prevailing argument. An evening event
complemented the day, with special guests including the
Mayor of Camden and BM Trustee Bonnie Greer.
BMuse is forging links across the UK. As young
ambassadors for the BM, the team visited YakYaks, a youth
panel at Tullie House, Carlisle, to brainstorm ways of getting
young adults to engage with Roman Britain and its legacy,
from Roman statues in the BM collection to Hadrian’s Wall.
Both groups are participants in People & Place (www.
peopleandplace.org.uk), a national programme managed by
the BM to put young people at the heart of museum displays,
resources, events and volunteering opportunities, including
young people with learning difficulties and other groups who
can suffer social marginalisation. Funded by the Department
for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for
Education, the programme saw young people from Bristol to
Wallsend form clubs, make films and even, for a lucky ten from
Colchester, travel to China.
Renaissance man
Celebrated chef Antonio
Carluccio discussed the
recipes of Renaissance
Italy as part of a
Renaissance Late
evening attended by
over 2500 people.
What’s on at the BM
Events at the BM reach all ages. Children’s events ranged from
amulet-making to Korean calligraphy. Adults could hear Nobel
Laureate Wole Soyinka, watch a horror film about mummies,
feast on Italian food with Antonio Carluccio at a Renaissance
Late, or enjoy poetry and music as part of Nowruz, the
new year celebration held in many countries from Iran and
25
Buddhism and Islam
Belief and Faith was
a many-faceted BM
event celebrating world
religions. Actor Qin
Liang’s performance
presented the Buddhist
world in Chinese opera,
while artist Mustafa
Ja’far demonstrated
verses of Islamic
poetry related to
spiritual beliefs.
Debate, dialogue and learning
Afghanistan to Uzbekistan. Much of the programming is
themed to special exhibitions, with events connected to
Kingdom of Ife and Fra Angelico to Leonardo each attracting
approximately 10,000 visitors.
A series of lectures in partnership with the London Review of
Books saw Judith Butler put the competing cases for Israel and
Germany in their struggle over Kafka’s cultural legacy, and
T.J. Clark revisit Picasso’s Guernica. The BM’s 900 volunteers
support and run a number of events, including Hands On, a
gallery activity in which members of the public can handle
real museum objects. Since its launch a decade ago, over a
million visitors have taken part.
26
The British Museum Review 2010/11
27
Debate, dialogue and learning
Nelson Mandela Day
Nelson Mandela Day
Dancers and musicians
entertain crowds at the
BM for Nelson Mandela
Day. As visitors signed
up to donate time to
a variety of causes, a
volunteers’ pledge tree
was constructed across
the BM Forecourt.
Could you pledge 67 minutes of your time? To mark the 67
years that Nelson Mandela has been involved with human
rights work, the BM organised a day-long event as part of
the South Africa Landscape programme, sponsored by Barclays.
The programme was part of the international celebrations of
Nelson Mandela Day.
Over 22,000 people attended the free event in July 2010,
30% of them making their first visit to the BM. There was a
video message from Nelson Mandela; storytelling for children
and readings by author Gillian Slovo and others; documentary
films about South Africa; gospel choirs and marimba bands;
beat-boxers, Zulus and gumboot dancers. The focal point
was the BM’s South Africa Landscape, where 22 voluntary
organisations ­– from the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund
to the African Foundation for Development – set up stalls to
encourage people to volunteer just 67 minutes of their time.
As visitors wrote their pledges on coloured ribbons, a pledge
tree was laid across the Forecourt ­– celebrating the ideals of
Nelson Mandela and his continuing legacy.
28
The British Museum Review 2010/11
29
Section Running Head
Across the UK and the world
Cyrus Cylinder,
539–530 BC
Describing the freedoms
brought to the citizens
of Babylon by Cyrus the
Great, this 2500-yearold ‘human rights’
charter was displayed
in Iran – one of the
year’s outstanding
international loans.
(Length 22.5 cm)
31
National exhibitions and programmes
Partnership galleries
Partnership with
York Museum
Objects and experts
from the BM and York
joined together to
produce the new
Roman gallery at
Yorkshire Museum.
Partnership galleries are a direct means of ensuring that the
BM is a key resource for the UK. The Yorkshire Museum
and the BM have worked in partnership since the late 19th
century. In 2010, the two institutions collaborated on the
redevelopment of the Yorkshire Museum. To keep them
publicly accessible, celebrated medieval artefacts from York
were put on show at the BM while the Yorkshire Museum was
closed – the first time a UK partner museum’s collections have
been displayed in this way at the BM.
As part of the exchange, the BM has also loaned a number
of artefacts for the new Roman gallery in York, allowing
the Yorkshire Museum to tell a more comprehensive and
wide-ranging story than would otherwise have been the case.
Sharing staff expertise was a significant part of the exchange,
and the two museums continue to collaborate. BM partnership
galleries to open in 2011/12 include displays on Roman
Britain in Carlisle and South Asian religions in Birmingham.
Loans and collaborative displays
Last year’s collaboration with the London Museums Hub
improved visitor activity at the Brent Museum, where the
celebrated Gayer-Anderson Egyptian cat from the BM was
displayed. Such transformative loans to smaller museums are
a focus for attracting public attention and resources and have
proved a successful model. In 2010/11, the BM made similar
loans, providing staff support and expertise, to a number of
UK museums. Changing exhibits were sent to the Museum of
Croydon to support their own collection of Chinese ceramics,
while as part of the programme Something Borrowed, Beatrix
Potter’s original illustrations of Flopsy Bunny were loaned to
Mill Green Museum in Hatfield; an Egyptian mummified cat
to Ely Museum; and Egyptian, Roman and medieval seals
to Dunwich Museum in Suffolk. Together the museums in
Hatfield and Ely attracted over 11,000 visitors during the
three-month loans.
Egyptian cat in Ely
The BM collection is
shown across the UK.
This Roman Period
mummified cat
was displayed in
Ely Museum.
(Height 36.5 cm)
Sex and high kicks
BM national tours ranged from an exhibition on Roman
sexuality in Nottingham to a popular show of prints by
Toulouse-Lautrec, High Kicks and Low Life, that toured to
Liverpool, Middlesbrough and Bedford. The Liverpool Daily
Post found the prints ‘captivating’ and the show attracted over
70,000 visitors at the three venues.
Moray Art Centre
To coincide with the
Fra Angelico to
Leonardo exhibition
in London, the BM
sent a display of rare
Renaissance drawings
to north-east Scotland.
National exhibitions and programmes
Touring exhibitions ranged from Ghanaian fabrics to
Iranian art –­ all objects in the BM collection that might not
otherwise be seen by the many visitors who viewed them
outside the capital in 2010. Nameless, a display of anonymous
drawings from Renaissance Italy, took to the Moray Art
Centre in Scotland Old Master drawings similar to those
which visitors to London could see in the exhibition
Fra Angelico to Leonardo.
The touring exhibitions make of the BM collection a
national lending library. National activities such as loans and
joint conservation projects will be improved by the BM’s
new World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre. Intended
in its founding charter as a free resource for all, the BM
looks through its UK loans, tours and partnerships to be the
museum for the nation. The BM’s national programme is
generously supported by the Dorset Foundation.
Edinburgh, Aberdeen,
Shetland, Stornaway
The popular Lewis
Chessmen toured
Scotland in 2010/11,
in a joint venture with
the National Museums
Scotland. The display
attracted over
100,000 visitors.
Playing chess in Scotland
They are ‘so alive’, said The Scotsman, with a ‘pervasive
sense of inner life that gives such presence to the group as a
whole’. The Scottish paper was reviewing The Lewis Chessmen:
Unmasked, a collaboration between National Museums
Scotland and the BM. Probably made in Norway in the
12th­–13th century, the much-loved ivory chess pieces were
discovered on the Isle of Lewis in 1831. Both museums
pooled their collections to create a ground-breaking touring
exhibition. Nearly 100,000 people flocked to the display
in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Shetland, where 40% of the
islands’ population viewed the chessmen. It then travelled to
Stornaway in April 2011.
32
The British Museum Review 2010/11
33
National exhibitions and programmes
Unfolding the Shroud
of Ipu, 1570–1450 BC
A collaboration with
Norwich Castle Museum
saw an Ancient Egyptian
shroud unfolded and
conserved, revealing
spells to assist the
dead man in the afterlife
and its link to surviving
shroud fragments
in Cairo.
(140 x 160 cm)
Interest inside and outside both museums was keen, and
a blog on the BM website kept online followers up to date as
the work progressed. When at last revealed in March 2011,
the linen measured 140 x 160 cm and Ipu, the name of the
deceased, could be deciphered. The cloth is part of a complete
shroud, another fragment of which is in Cairo.
The Lewis chessmen were among 2891 BM objects loaned
to 178 UK venues in 2010/11, an increase of 47% on the
previous year. Other loans included sending the fragile Roman
Vindolanda tablets, loaned for the first time, to Hexham; a
Bronze Age gold piece to Penzance; and Ice Age sculpture to
the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds. A prehistoric fishhook at
least 10,000 years old made of reindeer antler was sent to the
National Museum Cardiff for Fish and Ships, an exhibition of
archaeological discoveries made in the Severn estuary.
Training and sharing knowledge
Britain’s oldest
handwritten
documents
Nine wooden tablets
found at Vindolanda,
a military post on the
northern frontier of
Roman Britain, were
loaned to the museum
at Hexham. Below,
an officer instructs
fort commander
Flavius Cerialis to find
accommodation
‘where the horses
are well-housed’.
(3.6 x 9.4 cm)
A Heritage Lottery Fund grant to the BM helped establish a
new UK programme to train young curators. In collaboration
with five regional museums, MLA and the Museums
Association, the programme will provide work-based
placements to train curators across the country in collections
expertise and public engagement.
With support from the Vivmar Foundation, the BM’s
Knowledge Share programme works with museums across
the UK. Staff exchanges benefit colleagues nationally and
develop skills across the museum sector, including curatorial,
development, marketing and visitor services. Partner museums
in 2010 included Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums,
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, National Museums
Scotland, Manchester Museum and Bristol’s Museums,
Galleries & Archives.
The BM’s World Cultures Collection Partnership gives
advice to regional museums looking to take full advantage of
their world collections, as they draw on the success of national
interest in A History of the World. Partners included Newcastle,
Sheffield, Leeds, Doncaster, Whitby and Glasgow. A national
strategy is being developed on sharing cross-sector museum
knowledge effectively.
Unfolding Egypt with Norwich Castle Museum
An ancient Egyptian shroud has been in the collection of
Norwich Castle Museum since 1921. Despite its compressed
and folded state, hieroglyphs could be glimpsed on its linen
surface and the shroud was potentially over 3000 years old.
To unfold and conserve the shroud – and reveal its history
– Norwich Museum and Archaeology Service joined up with
the BM Conservation and Scientific Research Department.
Experts from both institutions worked together on the shroud
at the BM’s conservation studios, as well as training a visiting
textile conservator from France in the care of such fragile and
easily damaged ancient material.
Norse gods in
Lincolnshire
Odin and Heimdallr
are named in a runic
inscription on this 11thcentury spindle-whorl
found in Saltfleetby.
(Diameter 8 mm)
UK finds and the Portable Antiquities Scheme
The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) encourages the
public to report all Treasure and other finds in England and
Wales – from Bronze Age bracelets to Civil War silver – so
that valuable knowledge of our past is not lost. In 2010, the
Government announced that as of April 2011, the scheme
is to be managed directly by the BM, ensuring an effective
mechanism is in place for the next four years to deal with
archaeological finds made by the public. The work of PAS is
generously supported by the Headley Trust.
A new online database has made contributing to PAS much
simpler. Finds recorded grew as a result, with 90,000 reported
in 2010, an increase of 36% from 2009. There were 859 cases
of Treasure in 2010, an increase of 10% from 2009. Among
the year’s most fascinating finds was an 11th-century lead
spindle-whorl found at Saltfleetby, Lincolnshire, with a runic
inscription naming the Norse gods Odin and Heimdallr.
34
The British Museum Review 2010/11
Media and publications
Hoard of over 52,000 Roman coins found
The most astounding of the year’s discoveries was made in
April 2010 in a soggy ridge near Frome, Somerset, where a pot
of 52,503 Roman coins was uncovered. It is the largest hoard
of coins ever found in England. Dave Crisp, who discovered
it, did not dig it up, but reported the find to his local authority
who, with archaeologists, were able to excavate fully.
BM conservators quickly assessed and stabilised the wet,
muddy coins before they dried out, and some were put on
immediate display for a curious public who had followed the
media coverage. Most of the coins are ‘radiates’ of silver or
bronze dating from ad 253 to 293. Somerset County Council’s
Heritage Service succeeded in raising funds to acquire the
hoard, including support for the BM to conserve the coins
fully. The BM published a short book telling the story of the
Frome Hoard and its discovery to support the appeal and a
major research project on the hoard is planned.
Coins found in Frome
The Daily Mail was one
of many newspapers to
report on Dave Crisp’s
astonishing discovery
of a hoard of 52,503
Roman coins in Frome
Somerset. The find
included this silver
denarius of the rebel
emperor Carausius,
who declared himself
ruler of Roman Britain
in AD 286.
(Diameter 1.9 cm)
Broadcasting and film
The overwhelming success of A History of the World in 100
Objects – as a 100-episode BBC Radio 4 series, set of public
events and major book published by Penguin – dominated the
BM’s broadcasting output throughout 2010 (see p.50)­.
By 31 March 2011, there were 19 million downloads
worldwide of the series from the website, nearly half from
overseas, making it one of the BBC’s most downloaded
programmes. Many radio and television programmes attached
themselves to the project. An episode of the Antiques Roadshow
was filmed in the BM Forecourt, to which members of the
public brought their objects for evaluation by the show’s
experts. The programme included Neil MacGregor showing
two of the series’ 100 objects to presenter Fiona Bruce. Shown
on BBC1 in November 2010, the episode and its later repeats
attracted on average 5.5 million viewers per broadcast.
Many television and radio programmes draw on the BM
and its staff. Two episodes of Channel 4’s The Genius of British
Art, presented by David Starkey and Gus Casely-Hayford, were
filmed at the BM and featured objects from the collection,
as did Seven Ages of Britain. Presented by David Dimbleby, the
series was shown on BBC1, with repeats on BBC2 and BBC4,
Antiques Roadshow
at the BM
The popular BBC1
television programme
was tied in to the BM/
BBC radio series
A History of the World
in 100 Objects. The
original broadcast and
its repeats drew on
average 5.5 million
viewers.
36
The British Museum Review 2010/11
37
Media and publications
Cultural material
BM publications
range from scholarly
catalogues to activity
books for children. A
new iPhone App made
it possible to explore
Egyptian artefacts at the
stroke of a finger.
and overall reached an estimated 8–10 million viewers.
Other filming at the BM included Ancient Worlds, with
historian Richard Miles (BBC2), and Inside Incredible Athletes
about the British men and women preparing for the 2012
Paralympics (Channel 4). The BBC2 television series Digging
for Britain followed a year of archaeology across Britain. BM
fieldwork and research played a large part, from the study of
early human occupation in Happisburgh, Norfolk, supported
by the Leverhulme Trust, to the topical discovery of the
Frome Hoard of over 52,000 Roman coins. On radio,
staff were interviewed across the globe, from Gulf Radio
to Radio Beijing.
The BM’s own film productions included the exhibition
documentary Fra Angelico to Leonardo: Italian Renaissance Drawings,
in which the sources and techniques of Renaissance drawing
were explained.
Widening engagement online
Engaging with online social spaces takes the BM to people
who might not otherwise hear of its activities. Launching its
own YouTube channel in 2010, the BM screens short videos
about exhibitions and museum events and shows viewers
what goes on behind the scenes, from installing an Afghan
princess’s crown in an exhibition case to conserving papyri
from Ancient Egypt.
BM presence on social networking sites continues to grow.
On Twitter the BM attracts over 40,000 followers, with a
current average increase of 10% per month. Its Facebook fans
rose from 17,500 in April 2010 to 75,000 one year later.
The BM was the first institution globally to host a
Wikipedian-in-residence. Articles such as Wikipedia’s on
the Rosetta Stone are viewed five times more often than the
BM’s own and the site is one of the largest sources of referrals
to the BM website. The five-week residency was devoted
to improving the quality and amount of information about
BM objects. A two-day conference was also held to explore
collaboration between Wikipedia and cultural organisations.
A BM blog launched in April 2010 shows the variety of
the BM’s work, with curators, conservators and others
discussing excavations, exhibitions, conservation and
international programmes.
Apps and downloads
Digital access to BM information included its first-ever App,
launched for iPhone users about the Ancient Egyptian Book
of the Dead exhibition. A featured App on the iTunes store,
38
The British Museum Review 2010/11
it was downloaded by over 96,000 people by the time the
exhibition closed.
The BM website continued to diversify with the launch in
2010 of a Chinese language version and a version in Arabic,
both supported by the World Collections Programme. Lively
videos on the history of writing, time and other topics were
added to the Young Explorers space aimed at children aged 6
to 12. Online collection records grew to 1.93 million. There
are now nearly 800,000 images of the collection available for
public consultation on the BM website. Areas augmented in
2010/11 included coins, flints, prints and new acquisitions.
Web-users also had free access to an increasing number of
online research publications, from the BM Technical Research
Bulletin to scholarly studies of Roman Republican coins, or
paper money in England and Wales.
About 8.7 million people accessed the main BM website in
2010/11, with 21 million visits overall to all the BM websites.
International exhibitions and programmes
Opening in Tehran
President Ahmadinejad
at the opening of the
exhibition of the Cyrus
Cylinder in Iran.
BM loans abroad
Publications
Objects in Focus
Best-selling books
included this series
examining single objects
(or sets of objects) in
the collection – from a
towering Easter Island
statue to the Sutton
Hoo helmet.
The British Museum Press published 46 new books in
2010/11. Exhibition books and catalogues included The Printed
Image in China, Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World, Eric Gill
and Fra Angelico to Leonardo: Italian Renaissance Drawings, which
sold nearly 13,000 copies. Journey to the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian
Book of the Dead was highly praised in the national press. The
Telegraph called the catalogue ‘magisterial . . . the best of the
year’. It sold over 16,000 copies.
Other successful titles included a children’s book called
Hunefer and his Book of the Dead and a box set of Objects in
Focus books on five iconic artefacts in the BM: the GayerAnderson cat, Hoa Hakananai’a, Rosetta stone, Lewis
chessmen and Sutton Hoo helmet.
The BM was awarded First Prize at the Gift Retailer
Awards for best Visitor Attraction Gift Shop 2010. Evening
events promoted new books such as AD 410: The Year That
Shook Rome and South Indian Paintings: A Catalogue of the BM
Collection. Among the many works on the collection that the
BM Press published in 2010/11 were major catalogues on
Roman cameo glass, Japanese coins and the Maori collection.
The god Ku in Hawaii
A Hula ceremony
marks the installation
at Honolulu’s Bishop
Museum of three Ku
sculptures, one of which
was loaned by the BM.
Over one million people visited the National Museum of
Iran – including Iranian schoolchildren, as the Tehran Times
reported – to see the Cyrus Cylinder. The celebrated artefact
made in Babylon in 539 bc was loaned to Tehran from
September 2010 to April 2011. Excavated in Iraq in 1879, this
‘declaration of human rights’ records in cuneiform script that
when Cyrus captured Babylon (aided by the God Marduk), he
restored shrines dedicated to different gods and allowed people
deported to the ancient capital to return to their homelands.
As author and BM Trustee Karen Armstrong noted, ‘at a time
of political tension, it is essential to keep as many doors of
communication open as possible . . . This cultural exchange
may make a small but timely contribution towards the creation
of better relations between the West and Iran.’ The display was
opened by director Neil MacGregor and the President of the
Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
At 2.72m tall, the war god Ku was the most towering of the
year’s international loans. In May 2010 a group of Hawaiians
performed chants at the BM to prepare Ku for his journey to
the Pacific. He was exhibited alongside two similar wooden
figures in the newly restored Hawaiian Hall at Honolulu’s
Bishop Museum. When the sculpture came back to the BM in
October, the delegation, appearing in traditional dress, again
ensured Ku’s ritual return was appropriately marked.
In 2010/11 the BM loaned 1607 objects to 125 venues
outside the United Kingdom, an increase of 39% on the
previous year. They included sending Vorticists to Venice,
ancient Greek vases to Malibu, Islamic art to Munich, Celtic
swords to Saarbrücken, drawings by Degas to Toronto, medieval
floor tiles to Los Angeles and a Maori neck ornament to Leiden.
40
The British Museum Review 2010/11
41
International exhibitions and programmes
Middle East
Basrah Museum
BM staff are working
with colleagues in Iraq
to establish a new
Basrah Museum at the
Lakeside Palace near
the Shatt al-Arab river.
BM in Taiwan
A poster showing the
Discobolus promotes a
BM touring exhibition of
art from Ancient Greece
at the National Palace
Museum in Taipei.
BM exhibitions abroad
‘Greek civilization at a glance’ was how the Korea Times
headlined the arrival in Seoul of a BM touring exhibition, Gods,
Heroes and Mortals: Art and Life in Ancient Greece. From daily life in
Athens to the sanctuary at Olympia, the exhibition explored
classical Greek ideals of the beautiful body. Among the 136
objects loaned were celebrated works such as the Discobolus
(‘Discus-Thrower’) as well as Greek painted pottery, a gold
diadem, marble statues and terracotta figures. Over 366,000
visitors saw the exhibition at the National Museum of Korea
and the National Palace Museum in Taipei, where it was
opened by the Vice President of Taiwan. It travelled to Kobe,
Japan in March 2011.
Over 92,000 people in Madrid came to the BM exhibition,
Treasures of World Cultures, presented with Arte de Canal. This
array of nearly 300 objects from across the world has toured the
globe, introducing the BM collection and the world history it
represents to large audiences internationally.
In December 2010, plans were unveiled for the new Basrah
Museum, whose director has spent many months in the BM.
The BM is actively supporting the new museum, which is to be
housed in the former Lakeside Palace. Gallery development,
retrieving and storing collections, staff training and research
are among the programmes the BM is helping the museum to
achieve in extremely challenging circumstances.
BM exhibitions on Afghanistan and Oman drew public
attention to those cultures, but also prompted collaborations
with colleagues from both countries – from helping to identify
stolen Afghan objects to building international ties through
loan arrangements, having visiting curators work at the BM
and shared research.
With the University of Cambridge, the BM plans to offer
a higher education course in Museum Management in the
United Arab Emirates. Announced in November 2010, the
programme will explore all aspects of museum development,
from the civic and educational roles museums can have, to
financial modelling and visitor services. His Highness Sheikh
Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister for Higher
Education and Scientific Research, said of the announcement,
‘This is part of a broader relationship that will bring great
benefit to the people of the UAE.’ Other Middle Eastern
projects included training sessions for staff at the Museum of
Islamic Art in Qatar.
Zayed National Museum
Zayed National
Museum
The proposed design
by Foster+Partners for
the new museum in Abu
Dhabi. The ‘wings’ are
inspired by the feathers
of a falcon.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan is considered the founding
father of the United Arab Emirates. To tell his story and that
of the UAE, from its prehistoric landscape to the present day,
the Zayed National Museum is one of a group of museums
being built on Saadiyat Island. Designed by Foster+Partners,
the museum will sit alongside the Louvre Abu Dhabi (designed
by Jean Nouvel), Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (Frank Gehry), a
performing arts centre (Zaha Hadid) and maritime museum
(Tadao Ando). Foster+Partners’ architectural design was
officially unveiled in November 2010 by HM the Queen and
HH Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
BM staff are helping to develop the Abu Dhabi museum
galleries in conjunction with TDIC, Abu Dhabi’s Tourism
Development & Investment Company. Research, collections
development, conservation, international loans, gallery design,
learning and visitor programmes are some of the many areas
in which BM experts are working with colleagues in the UAE.
In anticipation of the new museum, the first of a series of
42
The British Museum Review 2010/11
43
International exhibitions and programmes
special exhibitions, Splendours of Mesopotamia, opened in Abu
Dhabi in March 2011. It told the story of three historic centres
– Sumer, Assyria and Babylon – using objects loaned by the
BM and the Al Ain National Museum.
The partnership programme . . .
is a fine example of international
collaboration and has greatly
enhanced the exchange of ideas
and cultural knowledge between
museum professionals of
different backgrounds. [It] has
allowed us to make a genuine
contribution to this ambitious
cross-cultural project.
and BM staff travelled to Nairobi to provide training sessions
on textile mounting and other processes for NMK colleagues,
as well as participants from regional museums in Mombasa,
Kisumu and Kitale. The exhibition opened in Nairobi, before
touring to Mombasa and western Kenya.
East Africa
Splendours of
Mesopotamia
BM loans for this
exhibition in Abu Dhabi
included a magnificent
head-dress of about
2600 BC. It is made
of lapis lazuli and
cornelian beads with
14 gold leaf pendants.
(Length 39.5 cm)
In East Africa, the BM provides training and programmes to
share expertise and develop the capacity of museums. With
funding from the Getty Foundation, the BM has visited 40
institutions in East Africa to define areas of particular need –
from collections management to visitor engagement – and find
solutions that fit each location, whether in smaller centres or
busier ones such as Dar es Salaam or Zanzibar.
Over the past three years, with support from the World
Collections Programme, the BM has worked with the National
Museums of Kenya (NMK) to find solutions to issues of
humidity, dust, overcrowding and security in storing museum
objects. In 2010 new storage spaces, a study room, office,
workshop and wet room were completed and in December
the Cultural Heritage store in Nairobi was officially opened.
The new facilities have made the collections more accessible to
students and researchers.
With support from the BM, NMK is arranging a touring
exhibition on the popular East African printed cloth, the
kanga. Lead staff were invited to the BM on work placements,
Maureen Alabi,
curator, Port Harcourt
Museum, Nigeria
Market near IkotUdem-Edidep, 12
February 1905
Charles Partridge’s
photographs of Nigeria
formed part of two
exhibitions curated
jointly with colleagues
in Ipswich, Port
Harcourt and Lagos.
West Africa
The BM’s work in West Africa was highlighted by the success
of the exhibition, Kingdom of Ife, in which 20 colleagues from
museums across Nigeria played an essential role in researching,
conserving and installing the African sculptures. Behind-thescenes access to the BM has been a fruitful method of sharing
ideas and providing training.
With support from the Ford Foundation, the BM
delivered training programmes in museum storage, display,
documentation and interpretation in Nigeria, Ghana and
Sierra Leone. They included a ‘Train the Trainer’ project
focusing on the care and display of textiles to ensure a legacy
of specific skills within the region. In November, the King of
Asante invited deputy director Andrew Burnett to Ghana to
discuss future BM collaborations in the region.
New projects emerge through strong international ties. The
BM holds 1500 photographs of Nigeria taken in 1903–15 by
Charles Partridge, a colonial official. Objects left by Partridge
are now in the Ipswich Museum. The National Commission
44
The British Museum Review 2010/11
45
for Museums and Monuments in Nigeria sent two curators
from Lagos and Port Harcourt to identify and curate these
materials. Working with UK staff to write storylines, they
assisted in producing two exhibitions, one in Suffolk and one to
tour Nigeria, as well as providing information for a catalogue
about the Partridge collection.
International
Training Programme
Participants in the BM’s
successful training
scheme for international
museum staff met in
Cairo to celebrate
the programme’s fifth
anniversary. They are
shown here at the
Supreme Council of
Antiquities with Egypt’s
Minister of Antiquities,
Dr Zahi Hawass.
Links with India and China
India: The Art of
the Temple
Sculptures, paintings,
textiles and other
artefacts from India
were exhibited in
Shanghai in a joint
exhibition by the BM
and V&A. They were
seen by 683,000
people in China.
In Shanghai, 683,000 people visited India: The Art of the Temple.
This joint exhibition by the BM and V&A displayed in China
the visual culture of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism in
India. The tour’s 106 sculptures, paintings, bronzes and textiles
spanning more than a millennium included a 2nd-century
stone Buddha from Gandhara and a bronze of the Hindu god
Shiva dancing in a ring of flames.
A multimedia display was developed especially for the
exhibition in China, using geometric visuals to explore Indian
temple architecture. The BM also loaned 20 objects from the
collection to Shanghai for the World Expo Urban Footprint
Pavilion, which was visited by 5.41 million people from May
to October 2010.
Cultural ties with both India and China are central to the
BM’s work. As part of the UK government’s World Collections
Programme, the BM, British Library and V&A signed a
Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian Ministry of
Culture in June 2010 to promote future collaborations that
include exhibitions, digitising collections and conservation.
Director Neil MacGregor visited India in July 2010 as part
of a UK delegation led by Prime Minister David Cameron,
and joined a similar prime ministerial delegation to China in
November. BM links with China are extensive and include
an ongoing staff exchange between the BM and Shanghai
Museum. Lectures in New Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai by the
director received significant press coverage in India, where he
was praised for his ‘innovative approach to global history’.
International Training Programme
In March 2010, to mark the fifth anniversary of the BM’s
highly successful International Training Programme, a reunion
of all the participants was organised in Cairo. Fifty-two were
able to attend the celebration, hosted by Dr Zahi Hawass,
now Minister of Antiquities, Egypt, which included talks and
tours of the Coptic Museum and the Egyptian Museum.
Past participants gave presentations as part of a conference
to analyse the achievements and future direction of the
International Training Programme.
International exhibitions and programmes
The programme is an annual summer school for curators,
archaeologists and other museum specialists. In 2010, the 22
participants came from China, Egypt, India, Iraq, Palestine,
Sudan, Kenya, Nigeria, UAE and Turkey. The project is
funded by the World Collections Programme and a number of
generous donations from trusts, private individuals and
the BM Patrons.
Participants are introduced to various specialist areas at
the BM, from conservation to learning programmes, as well
as given time to take up their own research, profiting from
access to both the BM collection and its experts. The work
is complemented by visits to regional museums. In 2010
these included placements in Birmingham, Cardiff, Lincoln,
Bristol, Manchester and Newcastle. Exposure to the variety
of museum practices in the UK is among the programme’s
successes. As one participant from Nigeria commented on
the BM’s programmes of social inclusion through culture,
‘The idea of making museum exhibitions available to socially
excluded members of society will be a welcome development
in our museum.’
47
Fieldwork and research
possible through major funding from the Leverhulme Trust,
as was the long-term programme Money in Africa.
Projects like these frequently entail running learning
programmes alongside the excavations. For the Dangeil
Training Initiative, staff offered training in excavation,
conservation and site protection. The FitzGerald African
Scholarship Fund also provided research placements at the
BM and UK partner institutions for colleagues from
Kenya and Ghana.
Africa, Middle East and the Mediterranean
In 2010/11 BM archaeologists in northern Sudan, with
the support of the Leverhulme Trust, continued to excavate
houses at Amara West from the New Kingdom and its
aftermath (1300–950 bc). The research seeks to uncover
evidence for changes in health and diet in ancient Nubia.
Excavations at Dangeil with the Sudanese National
Corporation for Antiquities and Museums discovered traces
of wall paintings in a temple of Amun (1st century ad).
Archaeologists found a copper-alloy clepsydra, or water clock,
in the ancient cemetery at Kawa, which will be worked on by
BM conservators. In Egypt, a team recorded and conserved
pharaonic rock-tombs in Hagr Edfu, supported by the
American Research Center in Egypt.
Fieldwork in Sudan
Pottery and other
finds at Amara West, a
Nubian town that once
stood on an island in
the Nile, are revealing
details of daily life in the
region 3000 years ago.
Greeks and
Africans in Egypt
This sherd from an
Ionian pot of about 550 BC
depicts an African. Found
in Naukratis in northern
Egypt, it is one of thousands
of artefacts being studied to
examine trade across
the Mediterranean.
(6.5 x 6.8 cm)
Australia, Oceania and Japan
Kelly, 1954
A recently acquired
drawing by Sidney
Nolan features in
the BM exhibition
Out of Australia in
summer 2011.
(25.3 x 30.4 cm)
Relations between Egypt and Greece from the late 7th
century bc are the subject of work on Naukratis and Daphnae
(Tell Deffeneh) in Egypt, supported by the Leverhulme Trust
and the Leon Levy Foundation. Finds from Naukratis – an
important Greek trading post mentioned in Herodotus and
rediscovered by Sir William Flinders Petrie in 1883–4 – are
distributed over more than 60 collections worldwide. The
ambitious project will explore Mediterranean trade and
interaction by taking a comprehensive look at all excavated
material, some 13,000 finds in all. Other fieldwork and
research included excavations at Sidon, Lebanon; a geophysical survey in the area of Hadrian’s villa at Tivoli, in
collaboration with the British School at Rome; studies of
Minoan pottery in Crete; cataloguing Parthian coins with the
National Museum of Iran; and excavations at Miletus and
Domuztepe in Turkey. Several of these projects were made
Fieldwork and research
A joint project between the BM, National Museum of Australia
and Australian National University received a major grant
from the Australian Research Council for research and a later
exhibition on indigenous communities and how their histories
are represented in museum collections. Preparations for Out of
Australia, the summer 2011 BM exhibition on Australian art from
the 1940s to the present, supported by Rio Tinto as part of the
Australian Season, included acquiring an etching of Ned Kelly
by Sidney Nolan, purchased with the support of the BM Friends
of Prints and Drawings. Other BM projects included long-term
research in Melanesia and a study of historic photographs of
the Pacific in the BM.
Academic collaborations with Japan include a three-year
research programme on shunga, erotic Japanese art. This is
a joint BM project with SOAS, the International Centre for
Japanese Studies, Kyoto and Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto.
A lavishly illustrated survey of the subject, with works by
Hokusai, Utamaro and others, was published by the BM Press
in October 2010. Other research projects include a survey of
Japanese porcelains in the BM, a three-year study of prehistoric
Japanese artefacts from the Mounded Tomb (Kofun) period and
digitisation of Japanese illustrated books in the collection.
Archaeology in Britain
Three substantial site excavations at Happisburgh have proved
to be of international importance. Evidence for the earliest
human habitation in northern Europe, between 800,000 and
a million years ago, was discovered and the findings published
in Nature in July 2010. The unique organic preservation of the
site in Norfolk has enabled archaeologists to reconstruct the
environment, showing that humans were surviving in cool,
coniferous forest on the northern banks of the proto-Thames.
A group of Iron Age cauldrons of 800–100 bc discovered
near Chiseldon, Wiltshire – the largest single group ever found
in northern Europe – are being conserved and studied, with
48
The British Museum Review 2010/11
49
Fieldwork and research
BM as a research centre
Iron Age finds
from Wiltshire
Discovered in a field
near Chiseldon, a
group of metal
cauldrons are the
focus of in-depth study
into their materials and
use. Three-dimensional
reconstruction shows
their original layout
in the pit.
In 2010, BM staff published over 200 books and articles. They
included studies of Iron Age mirrors, ancient Syrian writings,
hollow-handled spade money in China and a biography of
Eirik Bloodaxe, the last king of Northumbria. Talks given by
BM curators ranged from a lecture in São Paulo on ushnus,
apachetas, sayhuas and wankas in the Andean landscape, to
an address on Yongle and Xuande ceramics in Beijing. Among
academic events was a conference on the future of numismatics,
held to mark the 150th anniversary of the BM’s Department of
Coins and Medals.
Nearly 11,000 people visited the departmental study rooms
and libraries to examine an estimated 163,000 artefacts. In
October 2010, curator Andrew Shapland won the Hellenic
Foundation Prize (2009) for his doctoral thesis on human–
animal relations in Bronze Age Crete. The BM supervised 26
doctoral candidates, in partnership with 16 universities across
the country.
support from the Leverhulme Trust. Scientific analysis will show
how they were used and the results are also being posted on a
museum blog for the public to follow. A study of the Ashwell
Hoard includes new scientific analysis of the finds. Discovered
in Hertfordshire in 2002, the unusual collection contains
Romano-British gold, jewellery and silver figurines dedicated to
a previously unknown river goddess, Dea Senuna.
Other research projects on British history included the
cataloguing and digitisation of 19th-century British prints in
the collection, funded by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies
in British Art.
Scholarship and dialogue
International scholarship at the BM fosters cultural
dialogue and builds ties worldwide. Such work is sometimes
acknowledged by external bodies. In 2010/11 prizes went to
curator Venetia Porter, given the 2011 Rawabi Holding Award
for contributing to Saudi-British relations, and curator Tim
Clark, awarded the 2011 Ueno Satsuki Memorial Research
Award for contributions to research into Japanese culture.
Smelling and dyeing
Scientists from the BM and other museums and universities in
the UK have set up Heritage Smells, an innovative study funded
by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Run from the
University of Strathclyde, the project aims to develop biosensors that will ‘sniff ’ objects, enabling museums to evaluate
the state of stored collections without having to touch them.
The new technology will be non-invasive, non-contact, portable
and simple to use, providing real-time data about decay and
stability in heritage collections.
Scientific research is an essential element of the BM’s
scholarship. Studies in 2010/11 included analysis of the pitch
and tars used on medieval ships, supported by the European
Commission; a partnership with the Kerala Council for
Historical Research to address maritime technology, pottery
and personal adornment in Indian Ocean trade; and an
examination of colorants and dyeing technologies in Andean
textiles, supported by the Leverhulme Trust.
Research across
the BM
The most capacious of
the year’s projects was
the hit radio series and
book, A History of the
World in 100 Objects,
to which experts from
every department of the
BM contributed.
51
A History of the World in 100 Objects
The enormous success of the BM/BBC Radio 4 series
A History of the World in 100 Objects catapulted the BM’s activity
to extraordinary new levels of popularity in 2010. The
programmes reached an international audience through radio,
television, print and online.
Joining in on the
Isle of Man
Four successful
participants in the
Relic Trail at the Manx
Museum – one of more
than 170 venues across
the UK to run events
inspired by the awardwinning BM/CBBC
series: Relic: Guardians
of the Museum.
Over the year, BBC Radio 4 broadcast 100 15-minute
episodes, each taking a single object in the BM collection
to wander down the known and less well-known paths of
world history. An omnibus edition was broadcast on the BBC
World Service, and a 13-part children’s television series, Relic:
Guardians of the Museum, was broadcast on BBC1.
Director Neil MacGregor narrated the programmes, with a
variety of BM experts and notable contributors. The episodes
could be listened to again online or downloaded from a special
A History of the World website. A CD of the entire series was
produced for release in 2011. When the book was published
by Allen Lane (Penguin) in October 2010, it reached several
best-seller charts. It will appear in Spanish, German, Chinese,
Taiwanese and Korean, with further translations planned.
Public participation was immense. A guide to finding the
objects in the galleries was produced, talks and events were
run, and 90% of visitors to the BM engaged in some form
with the project. Across the UK, 550 museums raised the
profile of their own objects of world history: putting them on
display and on the web, and running events that attracted over
145,000 people. Online, over 4000 people uploaded an object
of their choice and narrated their own world histories.
An additional 50 hours of regional radio and television
programming was tied in with the series, and Relic trails akin
to those the BM produced drew children across the country
A History of the World in 100 Objects
to more than 170 museums, historic houses and cathedrals.
An estimated 45,000 children have already taken part in
this introduction to the nation’s heritage, most of whom first
encountered the series on television or online.
A History of the World in 100 Objects has changed public
perception of the BM. Its audience has widened, with nearly
two thirds of visitors in 2010 saying they were aware of the
radio series before visiting. Many longstanding visitors noted
that the project had introduced a new sense of the collection’s
world stories, widening their understanding of and interest in
the BM. Evaluation showed that for many visitors, the project
led to a deeper engagement with the collection. Scholarship
within the BM has also changed, with a greater sense of the
need to tell history across, rather than within, disciplines.
The series won the 2010 Voice of the Listener and Viewer
Award for Best New Radio Programme. It has been shortlisted
for the 2011 Art Fund Prize as a ‘groundbreaking and
enormously successful project exploring world history through
the British Museum’s unparalleled collection’.
A History of the World Reviewed
a brilliant success . . . as the weeks pass (and each week is given a theme)
it seems to me that we are being encouraged to meditate on the point and
purpose of human existence
Times Literary Supplement, September 2010
it deserves to take its place alongside television classics such as Kenneth
Clark’s Civilisation and Jacob Bronowski’s The Ascent of Man
Dominic Sandbrook, Telegraph, October 2010
52
The British Museum Review 2010/11
Fans of the landmark BBC radio series, A History of the World in
100 Objects, felt lost when the programmes came to a finish and their
days were no longer book-ended by the British Museum director’s gentle
wit and erudition in describing the history, significance and beauty of
100 objects from the BM’s collection. None could have imagined quite
how the series would permeate the national consciousness
Economist, November 2010
53
A History of the World in 100 Objects
the world’s supreme memory palace
Observer, November 2010
Radio 4 listeners . . . have spent the past six months being charmed and
intrigued by Neil MacGregor relating the history of the world
Andrew Roberts, Financial Times, October 2010
a weighty book, packed with the scholarship of the British Museum’s experts
Telegraph, October 2010
a new kind of shared heritage
Independent, November 2010
One can only remain grateful to Neil MacGregor for inviting us, his readers,
on this wonderful journey . . . At this juncture, when the world has turned
its back on its own humanistic heritage, this book reminds us deeply and
poignantly of our common human heritage
Calcutta Telegraph, February 2011
A History of the World in One Year
Letters, emails and online comments
a splendid achievement
Sunday Times, October 2010
When I reached the end of the book, I could not help reflecting warmly
that, if I were a ‘thing’, the British Museum would be a very nice
place to end up
Mary Beard, Guardian, October 2010
January
This morning, Sunday, in the minister’s sermon, he spoke about A History
of the World, quoting several objects. We were looking at the less than
exciting book of Leviticus, and he wanted to put it into a historical context
. . . He put Moses’s writings alongside what the Egyptians, Minoans and
Chinese were doing at the same time
Email, 31 January 2010
Radio 4’s surprise hit series. It was as ambitious as it was hugely popular:
a radio series that used 100 beautiful artefacts from the British Museum
to weave a fascinating narrative through human history
Daily Mail, October 2010
February
Listening to your voice . . . has given me the keys to the Museum,
and I have found that it’s an enormous box of wonderful stories
Letter, 7 February 2010
March
Your explanation and illustration of the (pre)history and meaning of the
objects is quite outstanding and has given us a whole raft of understanding
of the evolutionary path of mankind and society
Website comment, 4 March 2010
April
I want to thank you for this ongoing series. I am a blind person, and
therefore, would never see these objects. May I thank you for the wonderful
descriptions of the objects, and also for having the series on radio
Letter, 12 April 2010
54
The British Museum Review 2010/11
May
I have listened to the whole series [so far] several times and find it
enthralling. It has made me constantly rethink assumptions about art,
history, human activity – you name it
Website comment, 19 May 2010
55
A History of the World in 100 Objects
A History of the World in Numbers
Figures to 31 March 2011
19 million downloads worldwide of the series
10.2 million in the UK
June
Thank you for this illuminating programme. It is all that one can wish for.
True nourishment
Website comment, 1 June 2010
4 million UK adults listened each week to one of the BBC
Radio 4 broadcasts
160,000 copies of the book sold
July
This series has been the most wonderful that I have ever had the pleasure
to listen [to] and I am deeply thankful to you [the BBC] and the British
Museum, particularly tireless Mr Neil MacGregor, for expanding my
horizon. I love his comforting voice. I would love to visit London some day
to see these objects myself
Website comment, India, 7 July 2010
August
This is amazing! I wonder how difficult it is to get to Rapa Nui? Does the
British Museum actually have one of these statues?
Website comment, 15 August 2010
September
Seen through this lens, history is a kaleidoscope – shifting, interconnected,
constantly surprising, and shaping our world today in ways that most of
us have never imagined
Blog, Scotland, 16 September 2010
60,000 participants in A History of the World events at the BM
243,000 visitors attended ‘Objects in Focus: The Asahi
Shimbun Displays’ on three of the 100 objects
90% of visitors to the BM engaged with A History of the World
on-site
550 UK museums and galleries ran A History of the World
projects
145,000 people attended A History of the World events outside
London
685,000 6–12-year-olds in the UK watched Relic during its first
run on BBC1
250,000 requested it via BBC iPlayer
October
I’m grateful to this series for giving me a reminder of how I became me,
and including the progress that those like me have made in being more fully
part of the world
Website comment, 20 October 2010
November
I am very appreciative of [BM curator Catherine Eagleton]’s contribution
[online] . . . To have a curator join the discussion here is a bit like being
able to speak with one of the curators in an episode of The Museum
after having viewed it
Website comment, 7 November 2010
December
The ethnic/political complexities are wonderfully illustrated by this drum
Website comment, 27 December 2010
33,000 children on average each week played the Relic
computer game on the CBBC website
17,000 families took the Relic challenge for children at the BM
1.55 million viewers watched a Culture Show special on A History
of the World on BBC2
57
Financial support
It has always been at the heart of the BM’s mission to make
its collection and expertise accessible to audiences not just in
London, but everywhere. Support received from individuals,
companies and foundations has been instrumental in the
growth of activity in this area, and we are pleased to note the
establishment of an independent trust which will be able to
support the Museum. Across the UK and internationally, such
support has enabled the BM vastly to expand the number and
scale of its collaborations across the globe. From funding for
training programmes in Africa to a touring exhibition on the
Isle of Lewis, the generosity of the BM’s donors is felt both
within and far beyond the capital.
The BM has extensive programmes to share its collections
and expertise for the benefit of audiences nationally and
worldwide. In what is a challenging time for museums,
particularly those operating across the UK, it is more
important than ever that the BM is able to sustain these
partnerships and programmes through the help of its
supporters. Without them, regional museums in particular
are bound to suffer.
An outstanding example of corporate commitment to
the BM has been our longstanding relationship with BP.
The company has supported the BM for 15 years, providing
invaluable long-term funding for both infrastructure and
programming. The partnership began in 1996 when BP
helped fund the construction of the award-winning Great
Court. The relationship developed further when in 1999 a
major donation from BP led to the opening of what became
the BP Lecture Theatre, located in the BM’s new Clore
Education Centre. Inaugurated by Nelson Mandela in 2000,
the theatre remains a state-of-the-art resource for the BM,
with debates, films, talks, conferences, theatrical performances
and the BP Annual Lecture. Those who use the theatre range
from international scholars and politicians to groups of
schoolchildren from across the UK.
In 2001 BP supported their first BM exhibition,
Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth, an international
collaboration with the Fondazione Memmo in Rome. Its
success led to a five-year partnership with the BM, beginning
in 2003 and involving support of major exhibitions which
became known as the BP Special Exhibitions. So successful
have these exhibitions been that the partnership was
renewed in 2008 for a further five years.
Financial support
To date, BP Special Exhibitions have included some of
the BM’s most popular, including Mummy: The Inside Story
(2003); The Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia (2005);
Michelangelo Drawings: Closer to the Master (2005); Hadrian: Empire
and Conflict (2008); Fra Angelico to Leonardo: Italian Renaissance
Drawings (2010) and Journey through the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian
Book of the Dead (2010). The final BP Special Exhibition for
the current partnership will be Shakespeare’s Theatre of the World
which will be on display from 19 July to 25 November 2012.
This exhibition is the BM’s special contribution to the Cultural
Olympiad, a series of events to showcase the nation’s arts and
culture to the rest of the world.
Beyond the BP Special Exhibitions, BP also supports
a range of important BM activities. To coincide with the
BM’s extensive China programme, BP helped the Museum
celebrate Chinese New Year on Saturday 9 February 2008,
enabling a phenomenal 35,000 people to visit the Museum
and enjoy an array of Chinese cultural activities from games
to performances free of charge. As an introduction for visitors
who may never have visited the BM otherwise, it was an
unparalleled success. From 2009 to 2012, BP also supported
the UK touring exhibition, China: Journey to the East, which
took rare objects that tell the history of China across the UK.
Recent events include BP’s support for a Mexican Day of the
Dead fiesta on 1 November 2009. Held as part of a wider
Mexican season at the BM, the popular event was attended by
31,500 visitors.
The most recent exhibition supported by BP is a display
of Omani jewellery and costume. Adornment and Identity:
Jewellery and Costume from Oman, on show until 11 September
2011, coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Sultanate
of Oman. It prompted a donation of Omani costumes to the
BM collection from the Government of Oman and captures
exactly that necessary relationship between the BM and its
world partners that we could not hope to achieve without
generous financial support.
58
The British Museum Review 2010/11
59
Section
BM
across
Running
the globe
Head
BM across the globe
A selection of
activities in 2010/11
1. USA: Los Angeles
4. IRAN: Tehran
7. KENYA: Nairobi
The heroic figure of Tristram is shown
on this 13th-century tile found at
Chertsey Abbey. It was loaned to the
Getty Museum for an exhibition on
imagining the past.
Cultural collaboration included lending
the Cyrus Cylinder, made in Babylon
in 539 BC, to the National Museum of
Iran. BM staff advised on the display,
which proved so popular the loan was
renewed to allow the cylinder to remain
in Tehran until April 2011.
BM staff visited 40 institutions in
Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to
develop a training programme for
museum staff. Collaborations in East
Africa included modernising collection
storage facilities and an exhibition on
kanga cloths.
3
1
4
5
6
8
9
10
12
7
2
11
2. BRAZIL: São Paulo
In conferences from Brazil to London,
BM fieldwork on Andean ushnus,
ceremonial platforms from which Incan
kings might preside during festivals,
was presented to the public. Published
results of the three-year project are
in preparation.
9. CHINA: Shanghai
5. EGYPT: Naukratis
8. INDIA: New Delhi
This sherd from an East Greek vessell
was found in Egypt at Naukratis where,
from the 7th century BC, Greeks,
Egyptians and others met and traded.
A comprehensive study of the material
excavated at the site is underway.
Ties with India are building on a
Memorandum of Understanding signed
with the Indian Ministry of Culture in
June 2010 to promote loans, research
and future collaborations. BM fieldwork
in India includes a study of 7th–13thcentury temples.
3. ITALY: Venice
6. NIGERIA: Lagos
This 1915 study for a lost painting
entitled Two Step is by the English
painter William Roberts. It was among
a number of Vorticist works loaned to
the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in
Venice in 2010/11.
BM workshops in Nigeria and Ghana
included how to care for, mount and
display textiles. Visiting curators from
Nigeria used the BM’s collection of
early photographs of Nigeria for a joint
project with Ipswich Museum.
Over 683,000 people saw the
exhibition, India: The Art of the Temple,
which included this seated Buddha. The
BM also loaned objects for Shanghai’s
World Expo Urban Footprint Pavilion.
It was visited by 5.41 million people.
10. SOUTH KOREA: Seoul
11. AUSTRALIA: Canberra
12. USA: Honolulu
Gods, heroes and athletes such as the
1.7m Discobolus drew over 366,000
visitors to a BM touring exhibition in
South Korea and Taiwan. In 2011 the
BM exhibition Fantastic Creatures will
travel to South Korea.
The BM is collaborating with the
National Museum of Australia on a
four-year research project on indigenous
objects such as this 19th-century cane
necklace. A joint exhibition is planned
in 2013/14.
A towering figure of the war god Ku
(2.72m tall) was loaned to the Bishop
Museum to celebrate the opening of
their new Hawaiian Hall. He was one
of over 1600 BM loans outside the
UK in 2010/11.
60
The British Museum Review 2010/11
61
Section Running Head
Appendices
62
62
65
66
70
75
Warder, 1150–75
Made of walrus ivory,
this figure is one of a
major group of Lewis
chess pieces that
toured Scotland
in 2010/11.
(Height 7.1 cm)
Exhibitions
Supporters
Community groups
Staff
Volunteers
World loans
62
The British Museum Review 2010/11
Exhibitions
A History of the World in
100 Objects
Featured across the
BM as part of
the permanent
collection
15 January 1759 to
the present
Kingdom of Ife: Sculptures
from West Africa
4 March to
4 July 2010
Sponsored by
Santander, with
additional support
from the A.G. Leventis
Foundation
Fra Angelico to Leonardo:
Italian Renaissance
Drawings
The BP Special
Exhibition
22 April to
25 July 2010
Supported by BP
South Africa Landscape: Kew
at the British Museum
29 April to
10 October 2010
Sponsored by
Barclays
Journey through the Afterlife:
Ancient Egyptian
Book of the Dead
The BP Special
Exhibition
4 November 2010 to
6 March 2011
Supported by BP
Afghanistan: Crossroads of
the Ancient World
3 March to
17 July 2011
Supported by
Bank of America
Merrill Lynch
Treasures from Medieval York:
England’s Other Capital
12 February to
27 June 2010
Jewish Living and Giving
22 February to
26 June 2010
Impressions of Africa: Money,
Medals and Stamps
1 April 2010 to
6 February 2011
The Printed Image in China
from the 8th to the 21st
Centuries
6 May to
5 September 2010
Picasso to Julie Mehretu:
Modern Drawings from
the BM collection
7 October 2010 to
25 April 2011
Images and Sacred Texts:
Buddhism across Asia
14 October 2010 to
3 April 2011
Lasting Impressions: Seals
from the Islamic World
15 December 2010 to
23 February 2011
Supported by the
Heritage Lottery Fund
Traditional Jewellery and
Dress from the Balkans
21 January to
11 September 2011
Adornment and Identity:
Jewellery and Costume
from Oman
21 January to
11 September 2011
Supported by BP
Eric Gill: Public and
Private Art
10 February to
7 August 2011
Objects in Focus:
The Asahi Shimbun
Displays
Swimming Reindeer:
An Ice Age Masterpiece
11 February to
11 April 2010
Rulership and Ritual:
Maya Relief of Royal
Blood-letting
13 May to
11 July 2010
Akan Drum: The Drummer
is Calling Me
12 August to
10 October 2010
Agents of the Buddha:
17th-century Sculptures of
Fugen and Monju
11 November 2010 to
9 January 2011
Sikh Fortress Turban
17 February to
17 April 2011
Supporters
The Trustees and the
Director would like to
thank the following
for their generous
support of the BM
during the period
1 April 2010 to
31 March 2011
Dr Hossam Abdallah and Dr Madiha Elsawi
Koya Abe
Mr John W. Adams
Professor William Y. Adams
Mohammed Afkhami Collection
HH Princess Catherine Aga Khan
Mr and Mrs Marcus Agius
Mr and Mrs Howard Ahmanson
Mr and Mrs Vahid Alaghband
AlixPartners
Allen & Company LLC
Selwyn and Ellie Alleyne
Basma Al-Sulaiman
The Altajir Trust
American Research Center in Egypt
Dr and Mrs Z. Amrolia
Dr Julie Anderson
Apax Partners LLP
Mr and Mrs William Arah
Archaeology 4 All
Sule and Ahmet Arinc
The Art Fund
Arts and Humanities Research Council
Arts Council England
The Asahi Shimbun
Mr Vladimijr Attard
Ms Jane Attias
Mr Alain Aubry
Neil and Kay Austin
Mr Richard Aylmer
Satkeen and Aydin Azizzadeh
The Estate of Francis Bacon
Edward D. Baker III
Baker & McKenzie LLP
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
63
Bank of America Merrill Lynch Art Conservation Programme
Barakat Trust
Barclays
Mr and Mrs Jean-Luc Baroni
Nada Bayoud
The Duke and Duchess of Beaufort
Ingrid and Tom Beazley
Bei Shan Tang J.S. Lee Memorial Foundation
Richard Beleson and Kim Lam
Beleson Fund
BG Group
David Billings and Rebecca Goodhart
The Blackstone Group
Christopher Bland
Bloomberg LP
The Hon. Nigel Boardman
Mr and Mrs Norman Bobins
Mrs Raya Bohsali and Mr Karim Motaal
William and Judith Bollinger, Singapore
The Charlotte Bonham-
Carter Charitable Trust
Monsieur Jean A. Bonna
Mr Iliffes Booth-Bennett
Mr and Mrs David B. Borthwick
BP
Miss Kate Braine
Mrs Dorothy Tucker Brilliant
The British Academy
British Egyptian Society
The late Dr David Brown
Lady Brownlie
Mrs Anne Burton
Roger and Stephanie Carr
CDA-Projects Gallery
Charina Endowment Fund
Lillian and Lincoln Chin
Ida Chow
Mrs Anne Christopherson
Citi
Tim and Caroline Clark
Appendices
The Clothworkers’ Foundation
Stephen Cohen
The John S. Cohen Foundation
The R. & S. Cohen Foundation
Mr and Mrs Paul Collins
Mr Timothy C. Collins
Margaret Conklin and David Sabel
John Cook
Juan R. Corbella
Mark and Cathy Corbett
Mr and Mrs Kenneth Costa
Mr Douglas S. Cramer
CyMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales – Welsh Assembly Government
Mr and Mrs R.L. Dalladay
Gwendoline, Countess of Dartmouth
Mrs Michel David-Weill
Margaret Dawes
DCMS Strategic Commissioning: National/Regional Partnerships
De Laszlo Foundation
Mr Patrick Deane
Department of World Cultures, Royal Ontario Museum
Miss Monica Desai
Deutsche Bank
Sir Harry and
Lady Djanogly
DO & CO Museum Catering Ltd
The Dorset Foundation
Dossiers d’archéologie
Mr Farbod Dowlatshahi
Dr W.J.R. Dreesmann
Mr and Mrs Jan du Plessis
James A. and Laura M. Duncan Charitable Gift Fund
Mr James Ede
Mr and Mrs Nicholas Egon
The Lord and Lady Egremont
Maryam and Edward Eisler
Mr Ibrahim El Salahi
Dr Ahmed El-Mokadem
Claire Enders
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Giuseppe Eskenazi
European Commission
James Faber and
Richard Day
William Buller Fagg Charitable Trust
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
Mrs Judith Fairhurst
Mrs Susan Farmer
Mr Richard Farnhill
Mr John Fenwick
Beverley and
Jonathan Feuer
The Fidelity UK Foundation
Mr Francis Finlay
Dr Marjorie Fisher
Niall and Ingrid FitzGerald
FitzGerald Studentship Fund
Mrs Barbara Fleischman
Sam Fogg
Hannah A. Foley
Folkwang Museum, Essen
Ford Foundation
Friends of the National Libraries
Mrs Kathleen Kin-Yue Fu
Mr Jonathan Gaisman
Mr Nicholas Garland
The Robert Gavron Charitable Trust
The Getty Foundation
Mrs Raghida Ghandour and the late Basil Al-Rahim
The late Dr Henry Ginsburg
John and Patricia Glasswell
Timothy Goad
Michael Goedhuis
Alice Goldet
Israel Goldman
Goldman Sachs International
The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation
James Golob
Ms Val Gooding and
Mr Crawford MacDonald
Sir Nicholas and
Lady Goodison
Stephen Gosztony
Mr Andrew Green
Mr and Mrs Martin Green
Sarah and Gerard Griffin
Mr Pehr G. Gyllenhammar
Mr and Mrs Roderick Hall
The Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Mrs Sue Hammerson CBE
Sir Ewan and Lady Harper
The Headley Trust
Mr and Mrs Thomas Heagy
HedgeFund Intelligence
Mr and Mrs Christoph Henkel
Heritage Lottery Fund
Hintze Family Charitable Foundation
John and Sarah Hodson
Mr Robert Hoehn
Dr Alex Hooi and Keir McGuinness
Dr Yu Sing Hooi
Horizon Asset Limited
Sir Joseph Hotung
HSBC Holdings plc
Mr Hugh Hudleston
Lady Hurn
ifs School of Finance
ING Bank N.V.
The Institute of Bioarchaeology
Institute of Classical Studies, University of London
Iran Heritage Foundation
Istituto per i beni artistici culturali e naturali
The late Dr Roger Jacobi
Sir Martin and
Lady Jacomb
Mr Moez and
Dr Nadia Jamal
Paul and Ellen Josefowitz
JTI
Dr Elisabeth and Mr Conor Kehoe
Mr and Mrs Bill Kennish
Mr and Mrs Roger Keverne
The Kilfinan Trust
James and Clare Kirkman
Yvonne Koerfer
Korean Air
The late Mr Michael Kottka
The Neil Kreitman Foundation
Samuel H. Kress Foundation
Nirmalya Kumar
Norman A. Kurland and Deborah A. David
Steven Larcombe and Sonya Leydecker
Thomas and Gianna
Le Claire
J.S. Lee Memorial Fellowship
David Leventhal
The A.G. Leventis Foundation
The Constantine Leventis
Family
The Lady Lever
The Leverhulme Trust
Christian Levett
Leon Levy Foundation
Mr Lowell Libson
The Linbury Trust
Linklaters LLP
Ruth and Stuart Lipton
Mr and Mrs Rodney C. Little
Kuo-sung Liu
William Lock
London Topographical Society
LOUIS VUITTON
Mark and Liza Loveday
John Lyon’s Charity
Magic of Persia
Angus and Margaret Maitland
Mr Richard Mansell-
Jones
Marc Fitch Fund
Howard S. Marks
The Marsh Christian Trust
The Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge
Mr Michael Holt Massey
Harriet and Michael Maunsell
64
The British Museum Review 2010/11
Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation
E.J. McFadden
Meander Travel
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
The Metabolic Studio
Carol and Robin Michaelson
Norma and Selwyn Midgen
Sir Anthony Milburn
Professor Arthur R. Miller
Mitsubishi Corporation
Mitsubishi Corporation International (Europe) plc
Mr Moshen Moazami
The Monument Trust
Mark and Judy Moody-
Stuart
The Henry Moore Foundation
Glen Moreno
Morgan Stanley
Miles Morland
Blossom and Hugh Moss
Shigeru Myojin
National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies
National Heritage Memorial Fund
Mr Jacques Neveu
Mr James Nicholson
Miss Diane Nixon
David and Jenny Norgrove
North Street Trust
Mollie and John Julius Norwich
The late Mr Clive Nowell
OC&C Strategy Consultants
HRH The Otunba Adekunle Ojora OFR CON
Richard and Amilia Oldfield
Dick and Pam Olver
Stephen Ongpin
Jeffrey Onions QC and Sally Onions
Osaka Hiromichi
Michael Palin
Simon and Midge Palley
Mr Hamish Parker
Drs John and Carolyn Parker-Williams
Jonathan Parsons
Mr and Mrs Dalip Pathak
Mr and Mrs Anthony Pitt-Rivers
Olga Polizzi
Barbara, Lady Poole
Ms Bambi Putnam
Maya and Ramzy Rasamny
Dr John H. Rassweiler
Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin
Mrs Joyce Reuben
Rio Tinto
Sir Simon and Lady Robertson
John and Liz Robins
Barbara Paul Robinson and Charles Raskob Robinson
The E.S.G. Robinson Charitable Trust
J.M. Rogers
Roman Research Trust
The Rose Foundation
Rose Issa Projects
Mr and Mrs Benjamin Rosen
Joseph Rosen Foundation
Paul and Jill Ruddock
Dr Deanna Lee Rudgard
Betsy and Jack Ryan
Jeremy and John Sacher Charitable Trust
The Michael Harry Sacher Charitable Trust
Dr Raymond Sackler and
Mrs Beverly Sackler
The Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures
Dr Fiorangelo Salvatorelli
Sally and Anthony Salz
Samsung Electronics UK
Santander UK plc
SAS UK
Mr Adrian Sassoon
The Lord Sassoon
Michela Schiff Giorgini Foundation of the United States
James and Joan Shapiro
Ms Priscylla S.C. Shaw
Ms Julia Simmons
Emilia A. Simonelli
Dr Helen Sinclair
The late Douglas Slatter
Ms Niki Smith
Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP
The Sosland Family
Sotheby’s
The Stanley Foundation
The Steel Charitable Trust
Sir Hugh and
Lady Stevenson
John Studzinski
Maria Sukkar
Sumitomo Foundation
Tabor Foundation
The Lady Juliet Tadgell
Mr and Mrs John Talbot
Mrs Basak Tarman
Technology Strategy Board
Temperley London
The Thaw Charitable Trust
Thomas Williams Fine Art Ltd
Thomson Reuters Corporation
The late Miss Dulcie Ann Tickner
Mr and Mrs Melvin Tillman
Mr and Mrs David Tobey
Mrs Kiyoko Togashi
Dr and Mrs B.R. Tolley
Towers Watson
Laura and Barry Townsley
The Lord and Lady Tugendhat
Berna and Tolga Tuglular
John and Ann Tusa
United Technologies Corporation
Oppi Untracht Estate
Cyrus and Priya Vandrevala
The Vivmar Foundation
The Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust
Rupert Wace Esq.
The Charles Wallace India Trust
Bruno Wang
65
Malcolm Weiner
The Garfield Weston Foundation
George and Patti White
Mr Stewart E. White
Mr Malcolm H. Wiener
Reba and Dave Williams
The Wolfson Foundation
Mrs Patricia S. Wolfston
The Worshipful Company of Grocers
Mrs Jayne Wrightsman OBE
Dr Joel P. Wyler
Virginia Sun Yee
Mr Brian D. Young and Ms Katherine Ashton Young
and those donors
who wish to remain
anonymous
Appendices
Community groups
BM outreach included
work with the
following community
groups in 2010
1a Arts
2007 Memorial Campaign Network
ACDiversity
Action for Refugees in Lewisham
Africa Unit – Association of Commonwealth Universities
African Advocacy Foundation
Age Concern, Camden
Age Concern, Camden, Henderson Court Resource Centre
Age Concern, Camden, Hill Wood Resource Centre
Age Concern, Camden, LGBT Group
Age Concern, Haringey
Age Concern, Haringey Men’s Group
All Saints Community Centre, Hackney
Alone in London
Anglo Sikh Heritage Trail
Anti-Slavery International
Barnet Epilepsy Action
BASA and African Presence Network
Bede House Association
Belsize Square Synagogue School
Bengali Workers Association
Bishop Ho Ming Wah Association & Chinese Centre
Black Cultural Archives
Black Elderly Group, Southwark
Black History Month
Black Star Youth Group
Black Youth Achievements CIC
Blin Language and Culture
Bloomsbury Festival
Boule de Neige – French Supplementary School
Brent Carers Centre
British-Iraqi Friendship Society
British-Somali Community, Camden
Buddhist Society
Bury Place Association
CAFOD – Catholic Agency For Overseas Development
Calthorpe Project
Camden Bangladesh Mela
Camden Carers Centre
Camden Chinese Community Centre
Camden LGBT Forum
Capital A Arts
Caraf Centre
Cardboard Citizens
Casa – Older Persons Service Group
Castlehaven Community Centre
Chadswell Healthy Living Centre
Clapton Library
Claremont Project
College of North West London Group
Community Service Volunteers, Camden
CoolTan Arts
Coram
Crisis
Croyden BME Forum
Directory of Sikh Organisations UK
Education & Employment Project
– Islington Mental Health Project
Enfield Caribbean Association
Epilepsy Action East London
Equiano Society
Esforal
Evelyn Oldfield Unit
Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Centre
Great Ormond Street Hospital – Culture Club
Hackney Community College
Haringey – Young Carers Group
Healthy Communities, Camden
Helen Bamber Foundation
Holborn Community Association
Holborn Library
Homestart, Camden
Hopscotch Asian Women’s Centre
Hua Hsia Chinese School
IRMO – Indo-American Refugee and Migrant Organisation
Institute of Jainology
Iraqi Association
Iraq in Common Network
Iraqi Community Forum
Islington Mind
Kol Chai Synagogue
Kurdish Children & Youth Centre
Latin American Disabled People’s Project
Latin American Elderly Project
Latin American House
London Irish Centre
London Overseas Chinese School
London West End Women’s Institute
Marchmont Community Centre
Mary Ward Centre
Migrant English Project, Brighton
Migrants Resource Centre
Minnie Kidd House
Modernisation Initiative End of Life Care Programme based at St Thomas’ Hospital
New Horizons Youth Centre
Ngati Ranana London Maori Club
NHNN – National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
Njoya Foundation
Origin Time Bank
Paiwand Afghan Association
Peckham Library
Primrose Hill Community Association
PACT – Prison Advice & Care Trust
RAAD – Refugee Aid and Development
Retired & Senior Volunteers Programme
Richard Cobden Centre
Set Fashion Free
Sikh Education Council
SIMBA
SIRI Behavioural Health
SMart Network
Southall Supplementary School
Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers
Sova – Youth Justice and Offender Rehabilitation
St Mungo’s
Star 100
Start Afresh – Threshold Centre
Stroke Association, Camden & Islington
Sudbury Neighbourhood Centre
Swadhinata Trust
SWESRS – South West Essex Reform Synagogue Community Education
Talk Together London CIC
THACMHO – Tower Hamlets African & Caribbean Mental Health Organisation
Thames Reach
Threshold Centre Ltd
Tower Bridge Care Centre
Tower Hamlets College
UK Punjab Heritage Association
WAST London – Women Asylum Seekers Together
West Euston Time Bank
Westminster Kingsway College
66
The British Museum Review 2010/11
Staff
The Trustees and the
Director would like
to thank all staff and
volunteers for their
commitment and
invaluable contribution
to the BM
M. Abdalla
R.A. Abdy
P. Abeijon-Diaz
G.A. Abeshin
D.S. Abiola
P. Ackah
S. Ackermann
D.W. Adams
W. Adamson
H. Adrados
D. Agar
B. Ager
J. Agius
A. Aguerre
J. Agyekum
J. Ahmed
L. Akbarnia
E. Aked
A. Akinlotan
F. Akinwande
V.O. Akpodono
A.S. Ali
D.D. Allen
G.B. Allen
R.H. Allen
S. Allen
B. Alsop
A. Amarteifio
J. Ambers
A. Amor
L. Amuge
J.R. Anderson
C.P. Angelo
D.M. Antoine
K. Antoniw
C.D. Ardouin
H.G.W. Arero
M. Arksey
C. Arnold
L.E. Arnold
N.M. Ashton
I.K.P. Asmara
V. Atori
F. Attoh
P. Attwood
S.R. Aucott
G.W. Austin
S.I. Awolaja
J. Ayres
R. Ayres
P. Backett
N.D. Badcott
A.K. Baffour
H.K. Bahra
L. Baird-Smith
J.B. Baker
J.C. Baker
A.M. Baldwin
J. Ballard
I. Banasik
A. Barnes
B.K. Barnes
M.J. Barnett
S.K. Barrett
C.J. Barry
T.D. Barry
C. Barton
J. Barton
G. Bartrum
K. Bartyska
D.M. Barwick
A.B. Basham
A. Batanas Castillo
K. Bates
M. Bates
J.C. Batty
G.F. Bayes
D.G. Baylis
A. Beccia
S. Belasova
A. Bell
E. Bell
M.F. Bellamy
O. Bellio
R. Bellu
C. Belson
P.A. Bence
F. Benton
M.A. Bergamini
M.E. Bergeron
K. Berhe
C.R. Berridge
J. Bescoby
E. Beyer
D. Bhandari
C.F. Bianchi
J. M. Biggs
L.L. Birkett
K. Birkhoelzer
M.A. Birleson
D.J.A. Bishop
P.J. Blackburn
R.F. Bland
T. Bloomfield
T.R. Blurton
K.H. Boaler
A.M. Bodart
M.A. Bojanowska
P. Bokil
M. Bolt
L.M. Bolton
D.T. Bone
A. Booth
E.C. Booth
J. Boris
P. Borowiec
A. Borri
C.M. Boryczka
K. Botwe
H. Boulton
S.M. Bourn
G. Bourogiannis
C.E. Bowles
J. Bowring
R. Bracey
A.P. Brake
A. Breaks
L. Breaks
L. Brierley
A.G. Bright
K.E. Bristow
M. Bristow
R.R.S. Brooks
G. Brothers
J.E. Broughton
C. Brown
D.G. Brown
E. Brown
J.E.M. Brown
T. Brown
A.J. Brueton
S.P. Brumage
S.E. Brunning
J. Brunsendorf
E. Buchanan
R. Buchanan
D. Buck
O. Buck
P.A. Buck
J.F. Bull
C.A. Bullock
H.L. Bullock
I. Burch
S. Burdett
P. Burger
A.M. Burnett
C.L. Burroughs
B. Burt
D. Butler
P.P.A. Byrne
M.P.C. Casal
K.H. Caldwell
A. Calton
N.D. Camacho Parada
67
A.C. Cameron
A.M.D. Cameron
N. Cameron
G. Campbell
O.L. Campbell
B. Canepa
J. Cannon
N.P. Capocci
P. Carley
X.O.M. Carmichael
G.P. Carrington
P. Carroll
S. Carroll
L.G. Carson
C.R. Cartwright
R. Cartwright
A. Carty
N. Casey
P. J. Casey
L. Castanhas
M.P. Cato
B.A. Chadwick
T. Chamberlain
L.D. Chambers
H. Chapman
I.G. Chapman
R.L. Chapman
P.M. Chatenay
W.K. Chen
K.E. Childs
M. Cinquegrani
F. Clairel
L. Clare
T.T. Clark
D.R. Clarke
S. Clarke
D. Cleere
P. Clennell
J. Clift
M.N. Cock
P.A. Cockram
D. Cole
K. Coleman
C. Coles
C. Colia
A.J. Collier
P. Collins
S. Collins
C. Collinson
J.L. Conceicao
J.P. Conlon
G. Constantinou
M. Conway
B.J. Cook
J.M Cook
O.J. Cooke
M. Cooper
S.L. Coppel
Appendices
H.E. Cornell
I.A. Cornwall-Jones
C. Costin
T. Coughlan
C.E. Coveney
D. Cowdrill
V.P. Cowlin
M. Cox
J.J. Coyle
J.E. Cribb
S.J. Crome
T. Crossley
J. Crothall
P. Cruickshank
S. Crummy
J. E. Curtis
V.S. Curtis
H. Cutts
O. Dada
R. Dagnall
F. Daguio
E.J. Daly
Z.K. Daniels
P.J. Dann
G.C. Darnell
C.N. da Silva
S.S. Datta
H.P. Davies
S.L. Davies
V.I. Davies
H. Davis
J.S. Davy
J.W. Davy
M.A.M Dawson
R. Dawson
D. Day
S. de Chardon
M. de Pascale Moghaddam
R. Dean
H. Dean-Young
J.J. Deasy
H.A.E. Delaunay
S.L. Dellar
J. Deniran
P.E. Denne
A.F.A. Dennis
A. Dent
C. Denvir
A. Depta
J.S.E. Desborough
T.A. Deviese
L.E. Devoy
M.S. Dillon
P. di Meglio
R.P. Dinnis
S. Dodd
E. Dominic
P. Donaldson
D. Donnelly
P. Donovan
C. Doolan
B.S. Dooley
P.K.S. Doolub
M.R. Dordoy
S. D’Orsi
T. Doubleday
T.J. Dougall
A. Dowler
S. Doyal
A. Drago
N.L.S. Drew
S.K. Drew
I. Druce
F.R.H. Druelle
X. Duffy
H. Dunn
W.T. Dutfield
J. Dyer
C.T. Eagleton
C. Eardley
J.E. Eaton
M. Edgley
S.H. Edris
E.C. Edwards
J. Edwards
P.M. Edwards
S.A. Edwards
T. Efemine
G. Egan
S.O. Ekumwe
G. Elliott
F.N. Ellis
I. Enemua
C. Entwistle
H. Erekpaine
M.O. Erhuero
P.J. Ernest
E. Erol
M.X. Erraez
E.A. Errington
K. Eustace
D.C. Evans
N. Evans
M. Eve
C. Everitt
J.A. Fadiya
I.M. Fahy
I.A. Farah
C.C.L. Farge
H. Farid
S.B. Fasasi
S. Fatah
M.E. Fearon
S.A. Feeney
J.M. Feliciano
S. Fellache
A.C. Ferreira
G.M. Fidele
P. Figueroa Moreno
S. Filippini Fantoni
M. A. Finch
I. Finkel
B.R. Finn
M.A. Firth
C.R. Fisher
L. Fitton
A. Fitzpatrick
A.C. Fletcher
P.J. Fletcher
J.E. Flood
H.M. Flynn
R. Folkes
J. Forbes
B. Forde
K.C. Forrest
C.A.J. Forrow
A. Foti
R. Fournel
S.J.E. Fowler
D.W. Francis
D.C. Frank
S. Franklin
G. Frempong
R.B. Frith
C.M. Fromage
S. Frost
C. Fruianu
A. Fuller
A.M. Fullerlove
C. Gaggero
S. Gallagher
E.L. Galvin
L. Garavaglia
A. Garcia
C. Garcia Valencia
K. Gardiner
L.A. Gardner
A.M.C. Garrett
J.G. Garrity
E.J. Gatti
T.E. Gavin
C. Gballe
E.J. Ghey
D.A. Giles
S.P. Gill
S.W. Gill
S. Ginnerty
T.J.A. Glabus
D.J. Godfrey
K.J. Godfrey
J.E. Godman
K. Godwin
V. Goedluck
F.L. Goff
B.M. Gomes
A. Gomori
L. Gonzalez
M.L. Gooch
P.D. Goodhead
D.A.D. Goodridge
N.S. Gordon
M.J.T. Goss
S.C. Gow
I.H. Gowar
C. Gräfin von Spee
T.S. Granger
D. Green
R. Green
R.A. Green
S. Greetham
J. Greeves
A.M Gregory
E. Gregory
A.V. Griffiths
N.K. Grimmer
F. Grisdale
R.P. Gritton
M.S. Gross
A. Guiotto
P.N. Guzie
A-M. Hacke
V.V. Hairs
S. Halil
S.R. Hall
J. C. Hamill
S. E. Hammond
L-F. Harbord
A.L. Harnden
D.R. Harris
E.C. Harris
K. Harris
A. Harrison
J.P. Harrison
L. Harrison
N. Harrison
J. Harrison-Hall
M. Harter
M.J. Harvey
J. Hasell
M. Haswell
E.J. Hayes
M.C. Hayes
T. Haynes
P. Heary
P. Hegely
S.L. Hegley
S. Hemming
J.R. Henderson
M. Hercules
D.A. Herrera
S.A. Hewing
68
The British Museum Review 2010/11
H.J. Hewitt
K.M. Hibberd
C.L. Higgitt
P.J. Higgs
J. Hill
F. Hillier
M.E. Hinton
S.R. Hitchman
C. Hoare
K. Hoare
R. Hobbs
T.O. Hockenhull
M.I. Hockey
D. Hogan
L.M. Hogan
J. Holebrook
C. Holmes
J.S. Hood
D.R. Hook
J. Hosler
B. Houlton
C.I. House
G.R. Howard-Evans
M. Howell
C. Howitt
D.J. Hubbard
J.M. Hudson
M. Hudson
S. Hughes
L.R. Humphries
C.J. Hunt
J. Hunt
D.M. Hurn
S. Hussein
K.W. Hussey
T. Hutchinson
T. Hutt
P.A. Hyacienth
C. Hyypia
C.M. Ingham
A.C.S. Ioannou
R.P.J. Jackson
D.J. Jacobs
R.G. Jada
S. Jadhav
S.L. Jameson
P.B. Janis
J. Jegede
P.A. Jell
A. Jenkins
I. Jenkins
M.L. Jenkins
N. Jeyasingam
R.K. Jhutty
S.E. Jillings
A.B.E. Johansen
E.A. Johnson
K.A. Johnson
K.B. Johnson
P. Johnson
R.P. Johnson
S. Johnston
R.A.D. Johnstone
E. Jones
M.H. Jones
M.L.R. Jones
W.J.E. Jones
J.P. Joy
E. Judge
A-N. Kaossa
M. Karasudani
I. Kaye
I. Keen
K. Kelland
R. Kelleher
A.R. Kelly
D. Kelly
D.C. Kelly
E. Kelly
E.E. Kelly
N. Kendall
I.J. Kerslake
P.J. Kevin
C. Kewell
Q.M. Khan
T. Khazanavicius
P.K. Khera
T. Kiely
N. Kilden
A.B. Kill
E.C. King
G. King
J.C.H. King
S.J. Kinsella
M.T. Kirby
P. Kirkham
A.R. Komlosy
C.F. Korenberg
J.M. Kosek
P. Kwan
R. Kwok
S.C. La Niece
N. Lacey
I. Laing
J. Larkin
A.M. Lavery
B.G. Law
A. Lawal
R.C. Lawlor
L. Lawrence
C. Lax
C.J. Lazenby
A.S. Le Page
B.J. Leach
F. Leclere
N.J. Lee
C. Leela
S. Leese
M. Lehnert
I. Leins
D.C. Leopold
M-N. Leow
C.M.M. Lepetoukha
A. Leppard
C.A. Lester
M.S. Letcher
C.J. Leuchars
B.C. Leventhall
R. Levis
M. Lewis
A.W. Liddle
D. Ling
J.L. Lister
S.L. Logan
S.C. Longair
J. Lota
K.P. Lovelock
K. Lowe
J. Lu
J. Lubikowski
A. Lukoszek
D. Lumbis
A.C. Lumley
L.E. Lunn
C. Luxford
C.J. Lyons
P.H. MacCulloch
P. Macdermid
R.N. MacGregor
L. MacIver
M.J. Mackle
L.A. Macmillan
P. Maddocks
J. Madni
J. Maggs
K. Magill
J. Mahmud
P.L. Main
C.C. Mak
M. Mancuso
S. Mann
S.A. Mannion
V. Marabini
M. Maree
C. Mari
E. Marino
M. Markowski
K. Marriott
A.S. Marsden
C.A. Marsden-Smith
P.G. Marshall
S.E. Marshall
K.A. Martin
E. Martins
69
T.C. Martyn
S. Marzinzik
P.M. Maskell
A.G. Matthewman
P.B. Matthews
D. Matuszczyk
A.E. Maude
H. Maxwell
E. Mayhew
N.J. Maynard
A.L. Mayne
X.C. Mazda
L. McCarthy
M. Mcdonald
A.C. McDowall
C. McEwan
E.A. McFadden
C.L. McGowan
P.M.P. McGrane
R. McKeown
N.R. McKinney
E.J. McNamara
L.A. McNamara
D.J. McNeff
C.J. McPhedran
A. Mcphee
A.S. Meek
N.D. Meeks
F.A. Melody
H. Melwani
C.L. Messenger
D. Meyler
M. Meyler
H.R. Michaelides
C.J. Michaelson
F.E. Miles
C. Millbank
J.J. Miller
P.K. Miller
F.W. Mills
J. Milne
M. Mizumura
T. Mohammed
P.J. Moloney
S.J. Monck
A. Mongiatti
C. Monks
S. Montalti
B. Moore
I. Moore
K. Moores
T.S. Moorhead
M.A. Morgan
B.H. Morris
J. Morris
O. Morris
K. Morton
M. Mroczek
Appendices
M.C. Muller
T. Munden
C. Munoz-Vilches
R.F. Murphy
S. Naidorf
L. Navascues
R. Necci
J. Neiczypor
M. Neilson
B.S. Nenk
N.R. Newbery
J. Newby
N. Newman
J.C. Newson
T.B. Ngo
D.J. Noden
E. Noel
C.D Nolan
P. Nolan
N. Norman
E.I. Nueno
T.D. Nutting
C.C.I. Obidike
S.T.J. O’Brien
A. Obude
E. O’Connell
S. O’Connell
S.J. O’Flaherty
J. Okorefe
U. Okwoli
H.T.O. Oladele
D. Oldman
S.C. O’Leary
S.J. Oliphant
K.L. Oliver
S. Olweny
B.A. O’Neill
R. Onile-Ere
T. Opper
H. Orange
J.D. Orna-Ornstein
J.T.B. Osborne
T. Osborne
E.A. Osegi
G.O. Ososanya
I. Otite
J.M. Ould
K. Overend
C. Owada
D. Owen
R. Owen
R.M. Owen
L.A. Owusu
C. Oxley
C.W. Page
F. Pagliuso
M. Pagliuso
G.B. Pain
K.M. Panasiuk
H.M. Parkin
R. Parkinson
G.H. Parks
J.M. Parol
J. Paronjan
C. Parry
E. Passmore
N. Patalia
H. Patrick
L. Patrick
V.L. Patrick
B. Pauksztat
H C. Payne
J.M. Peachey
P.M. Pearce
S.J. Peckham
M. Pena
E. Pendleton
S. Penton
K. Perkins
R.E. Perry
H. Persaud
J.G. Peters
L.O. Peterson
D. Pett
S. Pewsey
D.T.H. Phan
L. Phillips
J. Phippard
G. Pickup
R. Plumridge
D. Polak
P.A. Poole
M.A. Portelli
A. Porter
V. Porter
M.A. Portilla-Carus
E.K. Poulter
C. Power
M.K. Power
S. Power
S.M. Pregnolato
S. Prentice
E.L. Preston
D. Price
J. Price
S.E. Price
S. Priewe
D. Prudames
L. Puggini
M.A. Pullan
L.L. Purseglove
S. Putchay
J.X. Qiu
M.T. Quevedo
N. Race
M. Ragonton
T. Rahman
S.C. Raikes
A. Ramanoop
W.E. Ramirez
J. Ramkalawon
G.Ramón Joffré
G. Rao
J.F. Rayar
J. Rayner
S. Razmjou
P. Rea
J. Reading
L.M. Rees
A.E. Regent
M. Registe
A. Reid
G.E. Renshaw
I. Richardson
O.R. Rickman
D. Rincon-Santamaria
B. Roberts
E. Roberts
P. Roberts
P.C. Roberts
W.C. Robertson
C. Robinson
D. Robinson
J.P. Robinson
M. Rocha
A.M. Roche
N. Rode
P.E.R. Roe
K. Rogers
M.F. Rogers
D. Romanek
C. Ronel
W.K. Ross
M.H. Rouse
R. Rovira-Guardiola
M.R. Row
A. Rowbottom
E.M. Roy
C. Rubie
K.P. Rudduck
J. Rudoe
A.P. Rugheimer
P.A. Ruocco
H.F.G. Ryan
P.L. Ryan
R. Saas
V. Saiz Gomez
A. Salvatici
J.F. Samuels
L. Sanchez
G. Sarge
D. Saunders
L.E. Saxton
G.C. Sayles
G. Sbuttoni
L.E. Schooledge
M. Schützer-Weissmann
R. Scott
S.A. Scott
L. Seabra
M.F. Seabra
J.J. Seaman
J.H. Sellers
L.A.R. Service
S-M. Seton
D.R. Sewell
V. Sewraj
M.J. Seymour
B.D. Shackle
A.J. Shapland
M. Sharma
H.E. Sharp
A.E. Shaw
L. Shaw
J.T. Shea
F.M. Sheales
F.N. Shearman
S.L. Shepherd
A.L. Shilcock
A. Shore
P.A. Shotton
D.K. Shrestha
F.K. Sidhu
M.H. Simms
A.P. Simpson
S.J.H. Simpson
A. Sinclair
A. Sivakumar
B. Skelton
L. Slack
K.M.T. Sloan
J. Slough
M. Smirniou
A. Smith
D.T. Smith
G.P. Smith
L.A. Smith
R.A. Smith
R.J. Smith
S.G.H. Smith
V.C. Smithson
L. Snapes
R. Snipp
M. Solim
F. Songui
J. Sparks
M. Spataro
A. Spence
A.J. Spencer
N.A. Spencer
S.E. Spencer
C.J. Spring
70
The British Museum Review 2010/11
R.J. Stacey
P.J. Stacy
R. Stallard
A.J.R. Stanbury
F. Stansfield
G. Steele
R.G.A. Stevens
C.R. Stewart
N-A. Stewart
S.D. Stinson
K. Stipala
R. Storrie
U. Strachan
J.L. Stribblehill
C.A. Stritter
E.J. Strudwick
J. Stuart
A.E.S. Stubbings
J. Suggitt
K. Sugiyama
G. Sukumaran
F. Suleman
S. Sullivan
S.L. Sullivan
J-A. Sunderland
J.R. Sutcliffe
J. Swaddling
M.J. Swaine
T. Sweek
R.A. Swift
C.N. Sykes
C. Sylvestre
T.A. Szrajber
A.S. Szulc-Bierdrawa
L. Taleb
N. Tallis
A. Tam
S. Tanimoto
E.L. Taylor
I.B. Taylor
J. Taylor
J.H. Taylor
L. Taylor
R. Taylor
J. Teer
H.G. Tefery
N.W. Tefery
L.Tembleque Teres
C. Terrey
N.M. Thahab
A. Thomas
A.K. Thomas
C. Thomas
C. Thomas
H.N. Thomas
R.D.G. Thomas
R.I. Thomas
D.R. Thompson
E.P. Thompson
C.Y.M. Thorne
D. Thornton
M.E. Tillier
C.L. Tomlinson
J.W. Toomey
K. Treacy
Y. Trofimova
A.S. Truscott
M. Tshimpanga
J.N. Tubb
J. Tucker
J.R.R. Tullett
P. Turnbull
K.E. Turner
V.C. Turner
J.C. Turquet Munton
B.J. Twining
J. Umpleby
R.K. Uprichard
A.D. Ure
E.C. Uwahemu
J. Vainovska
M. van Bellegem
E.K. van Bork
A. van Camp
G.L. Varndell
J.M. Vasconcelos
B.K. Vekariya
G. Verri
E.Vila Llonch
A.C. Villing
M.P. Viscardi
A.R.R. Vitry
R.L. Wade
B. Wadhia
M.I. Waight
A. Wakefield
R.K. Wakeman
H.M. Walker
D.R. Walkling
D.C. Waller
I.C. Walton
P.J. Walton
H.K. Wang
M.X. Wang
Q. Wang
C.E. Ward
I. Warren
T.C. Watkins
P.R. Watling
J.D. Watson
M. Weaver
E.L. Webb
S. Webb
J. Weddup
H.J. Weeks
K.M. Welham
S.E. Wellham
D. Welsby
D. Wengenroth
B.D. West
F. West
S. Westerby
T. Whatling
P.A.L. Wheatley
C.A. White
L.J. Whitehead
S. Whiting
J. Whitson
J.L. Whittaker
J.A. Widlak
A. Wilk
A.R. Williams
C. Williams
D.G.E. Williams
D.J.R. Williams
H.A.M. Williams
J.H.C. Williams
P.J. Williams
S.D. Williams
H-R. Williamson
D. Williamson
M. Willis
B.A. Wills
I. Willson
C.D. Wilson
E. Wilson
M. Wilson
S.P. Wilson
U. Wilson
R.M. Winton
R. Woff
R. Wojas
H. Wolfe
E.R. Wood
W.H. Wood
S.C.V. Woodhouse
R.J. Woollard
A.J. Woskett
D. Wraight
C.L. Wren
A.E. Wright
S. Wyles
C.R. Wyndham
C.P. Yates
M. Yeahya
E. York
P. Young
N. Yousuf
M.A. Yule
Y. Zhang
L.K. Zimmer
71
Volunteers
J. Abbott
O. Abdalla
G. Abdelrahman
F. Abdou
K. Abdulla
B. Abdulridha
G. Aboe
J. Abrahamson
N. Adams
S. Adams
E. Addo
H. Afarssad
T. Afolayan
A. Agudo
R. Ahluwalia
R. Ahmad
A. Ahmed
L. Aitken-Burt
R. Akama
Q. Al Abeed
M. Alabi
G. Albano
K. Alexander
C. Alfonsin Barreiro
P. Allard
K. Allen
R. Allen
S. Allen
F. Al-Rubaye
L. Anthias
P. Antonatos
E. Apostola
D. Arap Mitei
M. Archibald
G. Ardito
M. Arichi
E. Armstrong
T. Arnold-Forster
R. Ashton
V. Assis
H. Athayde
A. Atiti
J. Austin
K. Austin
P. Au-Yeung
N. Awais-Dean
J. Bacon
M. Badcott
D. Bailey
T. Bainbridge
R. Baker
J. Baktis
M. Balcombe
E. Baldi
C. Balsamo
M. Bamford
Appendices
B. Banwatt
Y. Bao
S. Baqui
S. Barlas
K. Barnett
K. Barrett
R. Barrett
S. Bartholomew
L. Barwell
L. Bastardoz
A. Beale
H. Beale
P. Beaumont
R. Begim
A. Begum
J. Benanty
P. Bence
A. Bender
J. Benn
D. Berenguer
F. Beresford
B. Berlowicz
V. Bernardi
S. Berns
G. Bertram
P. Bevan
E. Beyer
D. Bhandari
L. Bickford
A. Bickleder
B. Biddell
I. Bieniusa
K. Biggs
M. Bimson
M. Bincsik
M. Binder
A. Binns
L. Bishopp
C. Blackstone
M. Blackwell
D. Blair
M. Blank
N. Blumenthal
M. Bock
A. Bolland
A. Bonneau
O. Bonnerot
R. Boome
J. Booth
N. Bosscher
S. Boughton
H. Bourdillon
J. Bourg
M. Bourika
J. Boyce
E. Bradshaw
V. Brady
A. Brand
S. Brandt
S. Bridgford
A. Bridgwood
B. Brind
T. Brindle
D. Broadhead
L. Brodie
T. Bromme
D. Brostoff
A. Brown
C. Brown
W. Brown
S. Brunning
S. Buchhorn
R. Buckland
L. Bushnell
M. Bywater
J. Cabot
A. Caird
M. Callewaert
F. Campbell
J. Campbell
L. Campbell
M. Carey
N. Carless Unwin
O. Carpenter
I. Castellano
J-G. Castex
A. Casvigny
C. Catterwell-Sinkerdam
D. Cavalcanti
M. Caygill
J. Chacon Fossey
M. Chaffe
H. Chambers
M. Chance
I. Chapman
M. Cheang
D. Cheeseman
Y. Chen
J. Cheng
J. Cherry
N. Chiang
S. Choudree
N. Chow
P. Christou
A. Cierpiol
A. Clark
Y. Clarke
J. Cleary
P. Clement-Levin
F. Clinckemaillie
E. Close
L. Coates
C. Coatman
E. Collett
D. Collon
B. Cook
I. Coombes
A. Cooper
E. Cooper
H. Cordell
S. Cornish
R. Corris
M. Coulthard
L. Courtney
M. Cowell
B. Coxhead
P. Craddock
L. Crampton
L. Crewe
J. Cribb
R. Crockett
H. Crossman
T. Crowley
D. Crozier
C. Cummings
M. Czarnynoga
L. Czebotar
R. da Costa
R. Dabirinezhad
A. Dallapiccola
J. Dalrymple
Z. Daly
K. Daniels
V. Daniels
J. Davidson
R. Davis
K. Davison
J. Dawkins
C. Daws
J. Day
L. de Caro
M. de Pascale
M. Deary
M. Dehpahlavan
M. Deldicque
G. Dempsey
S. Dempsey
S. Denham
A. Dey
S. Dillon
P. Ding
A. Dixon
C. D’Mello
A. Dmochowska
J. Doman
S. Dorlikar
T. Dotchin
V. Dotchin
E. Dott
H. Dougall
C. Doumet-Serhal
A. Dove
C. Dow
L. Dow
C. Dragoni
I. Duijf
M. Dunbar
M. Dunlea
J. Dunlop
A. Dunne
B. Durrans
J. Durston
S. Dutton
A. Eastmond
J. Edwards
K. Elkin
B. Elliott
C. Elliott
L. Ellis
S. Ellis
H. El-Tayeb
J. Engstrom
M. Etheridge
A. Evans
T. Fahmida Begum
O. Fairfax
I. Fairgrieve
H. Fancy
G. Fay
J. Feather
K. Felstead
M. Field
P. Field
T. Fiske
I. Flaskerud
C. Flood
C. Flowitt-Hill
L. Fox
T. Francis
A-M. Frantzis
J. Freeborn
A. Freyne
M. Friday
N. Frost
A. Fung
E. Furman
N. Futamata
O. Fyfe
R. Gachihi
C. Galloway
A. Gannon
M. Gansallo
A. Garcia Perez
C. Garcia-Jane
H. Gardiner
S. Genbrugge
D. Gerstle
M. Geslewitz
M. Ghany
B. Ghezelayagh
P. Gibson
R. Gibson
72
The British Museum Review 2010/11
K. Gigl
Y. Gilbertson
M. Ginsberg
D. Given
J. Gladwyn
M. Glass
H. Glick
S. Gois
S. Goldberg
R. Golds
B. Gomez-Escobar
E. Gommane Gelencser
B. Gonultas
L. Goulet
J. Gourvenec
M. Goverde
J. Graham-Campbell
E. Gray
B. Greaves
J. Green
R. Greenberg
J. Greenhalgh
B. Greenley
M. Greenwood
L. Gregor MacGregor
J. Gregory
P. Griffith
M. Grigoriadou
G. Grogan
T. Grosvenor
A. Gubbins
A. Guglielmi
S. Gullen
F. Guo
R. Gwynne
T. Haddock
R. Haine
A. Hakimzada
C. Hall
M. Hall
K. Halliday
W. Hamilton-Wheatley
G. Hammersley
H. Han
K. Han
W. Hance
A. Hancock
C. Hancock
M. Hancock
P. Hardcastle-Longman
M. Harper
V. Harris
J. Harrison
G. Hartley
B. Harvey
B. Hassett
M. Hatch
D. Hawker
E. Hawrylowicz
E. Hay
M. Hayashi
L. Hazarika
Y. Heechang
E. Herdman
G. Herrmann
G. Hewer
R. Hickson
S. Hidalgo Garza
J. Hilder
J. Hindess
G. Hindley
Z. Hines
A. Hirano
J. Hirschl
B. Hoare
M. Hoare
K. Hobbs
A. Hochul
K. Hocutt
R. Hodges
M. Hogan
L. Holland
H. Hollemweguer
Campos
L. Holtse
C. Holzer
A. Hooson
H. Hopper
M. Hopper
L. Horn
J. Horrocks
K. Horton
K. Hou
R. Houlston
J. Howard
S. Howard
D. Howard-Jones
C. Howarth
D. Howells
G. Howes
E. Hughes
R. Hughes
R. Humphreys
S. Hunter Dodsworth
B. Hurman
A. Hurst
J. Hurst-Bannister
K. Hutchinson
B. Hytner
C. Iroube
A. Ishigami
A. Jack
N. Jackson
S. Jackson
M. James
S. Jamieson
Y. Jamil
S. Jansari
S. Jarvis
S. Javaid
R. Jeffreys
L. Jenkins
J. Jennings
N. Jensen
E. Jeong
D. Jessop
R. Jewell
H. Jin
A. Johansen
C. Johns
J. Johnson
A. Johnston
V. Johnston
N. Johnstone
E. Jones
L Jones
T. Jones
E. Jordan
M. Joseph
M. Juddery
M. Kajut
M. Kamo
T. Kaneko
S. Kaner
M. Kar
D. Karter
J. Kaur
R. Kaur
A. Kazi
M. Keable
K. Keating
S. Keenlyside
C. Kefalas
A. Kemp
G. Kennedy
J. Kennedy
A. Keppler
R. Keyes
I. Khan
S. Khanom
A. Khattab
M. Kim
M. King
P. Kinjap
J. Kirby
I. Kirk-Reynolds
G. Kirstein
Y. Kitajima
B. Kitchen
S. Klein
F. Kofidou
M. Komlosy
A. Komura
E. Kostakis
73
P. Kotecha
L. Kraak
C. Krmpotich
A. Kruger
E. Krygowska
N. Kuchta
C. Kuechler
A. Kuhn
J. Kurucz
P. Kusseven
P. Kwan
I. Lagat
J. Lang
A. Latty
H. Laurence
S. Lazoi
J. Leach
K. Leahy
I. Leduc
J.T. Lee
J. Leedham
K. Leighton-Boyce
L. Lekesova
H. Letwin
V. Levene
B. Leventhall
J. Lewenstein
V. Lewin
G. Lewis
M. Lewis
R. Lewis
S. Lewis
D. Li
R. Li
D. Licciardello
E. Linton
V. Lipscombe
R. Little
K. Locsin
J. Lok
H. Long
S. Looi
F. Lopez-Sanchez
Y. Lou
V. Lower
A.L. Luthi
A. Lybarger
H. Lythe
J. Ma
J. MacDermot
A. Macias
J. Mack
M. MacKenzie
P. Magrill
A. Magub
S. Mahrous
C. Mai
M. Maitland
Appendices
C. Mansey
A. Mansi
H. Manthorpe
J. Marchant
S. Marconini
S. Marianski
L. Maroudas
J. Marshall
J. Martin
A. Martinez
L. Masterson
C. Mathias
R. Matovu
A. Matsuda
J. Matuszak
S. May
K. Maynes
K. McBride
H. McCall
L. McCormack
P. McElhinney
O. McEwan
E. McFadden
S. McFarlane
H. McKenna
K. McKinney
F. McLees
S. McManus
J. McMullan
K. McPherson
B. Mead
J. Medina Alsina
T. Mehigan
M. Melkonian
K. Mellini
P. Mellor
M. Meqdad
I. Metcalfe
A. Middleton
Princess Akiko of Mikasa
A. Milks
R. Miller
E. Mills
J. Mitchell
T. Mitchell
J. Mockford
A. Mogensen
F. Mohd
T. Molleson
V. Moore
E. Morhange
N. Morjaria
O. Morris
M. Mosaad
J. Mossman
C. Mottais
V. Motyckova
L. Moudadou
P. Muirhead
J. Mukherjee
A. Murgia
N. Murin
E. Murray
H. Murray
A. Musial
A. Muthana
A. Nacamuli
B. Nagle-Rose
R. Nahar
I. Najjar
A. Naqvi
K. Needell
S. Needham
E. Newborough
S. Ng
M. Norman
N. Norman
C. Nri
K. O’Brien
D. O’Callaghan
M. Occelli
A. O’Connor
E. O’Connor
M. Odell
A. Ofenbeher
S. O’Flynn
P. Ogbu
K. Ohashi
L. Olabarria
H. Olivier
G. Onden’g
O. Onime
K. Orlowski
M. Orr
S.D. Oshidar
S. Osiagwu
O. Otuka
D. Oudanonh
D. Paisey
M. Pakzad
L. Papworth
D. Parker
P. Parr
W. Parsloe
F. Parton
K. Pattison
C. Peacock
A. Pearson
S. Peckel
M. Peebles
L. Peers
T. Peinke
F. Peloso
J. Perkins
R. Perkins
V. Perkins
S. Perna
D. Peterson
E. Peveler
E. Phillips
A. Pieri
S. Pigney
M. Pilbeam
A. Piper
E. Pitt
M. Place
J. Playford
M. Plottu
J. Plowman
D. Pope
B. Porter
F. Potter
J. Power
L. Prada
V. Prapanna
S. Priestman
J. Pritchard
M. Priyadarshini
Y. Pucci
Y. Qu
S. Quek
S. Rahman
A. Ramen
I. Ramos
C. Rando
J. Rankine
T. Rasheed
A. Rassia
E. Ratz
M. Raudnitz
H. Razzak
J. Reade
C. Reeves
B. Regel
A. Regent
R. Regenvanu
B. Reichenbacher
S. Reitsis
M. Rendall
J. Restall
N. Rhodes
S. Richards
R. Richardson
T. Richter
C. Rickhuss
K. Rienjang
M. Rimmer
C. Ripullone
F. Rivers
C. Rizzo
K. Robbins
F. Roberts
H. Roberts
H.A. Roberts
S. Rollason
D. Romanek
R. Roriz Rubim
A. Rothan
C. Rovira-Guardiola
N. Rowe
K. Rowland
M. Royalton-Kisch
G. Rubenstein
S. Ruddock
N. Russell
N. Russell
K. Sadek
M. Safinia
A. Sagona
C. Sagona
H. Sakurai
H. Salem
A. Samuel
J. Satalova
L. Saura Cuenca
E. Saura Ramos
M. Sautin
C. Saward
C. Sayers
A-S. Schoess
J. Scholes
M. Scott-Walton
L. Scuderi
F. Sediqy
J. Seely
S. Seepersaud-Jones
I. Seligman
P. Seligman
S. Sen
S. Sewraj Bhurtun
A. Shah
R. Shah Sobhag
S. Shaharudin
J. Shaw
C. Shellard
A. Shen
C. Shilcock
M. Shilling
J. Shores
Z. Shubber
A. Siddig
M. Sidhu
T. Silversides
J. Silvester
T. Simon
J. Simonson
H. Simpson
A. Singh
S. Singh
C. Skyrme
V. Smallwood
D. Smith
74
The British Museum Review 2010/11
L. Smith
L. Smith
P. Smith
S. Smith
S. Smith
L. Snowling
K. Solanki
D. Solman
J. Solomons
S. Soparkar
E. Sothern
S-C. Souillard
K. Southwell
M. Spanevello
L. Spearman
F. Spoerl
E. Stafford
N. Stanley
F. Stansfield
C. Stanton
D. Starzecka
T. Statham
M. Statton
G. Stein
L. Stellman
W. Sterling
B. Stevens
N. Stevenson
I. Stewart
C. Stimson
S. Stone
C. Storey
M. Suchcitz
W-J. Suh
L. Sukier
Y. Sun
K. Suzuki
K. Swainston
S. Swan
A. Taberdo
K. Tailor
N. Takahashi
Y. Talebian
S. Tanimoto
A.N. Tatliadim
H. Taylor
J. Taylor
J. Taylor
L. Taylor
S. Tebbot
K. Teiken
V. Ternisien
M. Theobald
F. Thomas
P. Thompson
A. Thomson
A. Thurman
M. Tillo
E. Tinios
R. Tomber
J. Tomkins
C. Toogood
O. Topol
G. Toso
V. Tothill
E. Traherne
A. Troost
M. Truckey
S. Truman
E. Tucker
C. Tuley
A. Tuppen
A. Tupper
A. Turner
H. Tweed
L. Underhill
P. Usick
C. van Cleave
S. van den Berg van Saparoea
W. van Hoof
S. van Ootenghem
M. Vandenbeusch
J. Vann
P. Vareilles
S. Vene
L. Verger
G. Verri
C. Veysey
S. Vickers
C. Voigtmann
J. Vout
F. Wadra
J. Wakeel
C. Walker
M. Walker
C. Walsh
R. Walsh
P. Walton
A. Wang
L-N. Wang
P. Warburton
L. Ware
E. Warry
D. Watson
L. Watson
R. Watson
J. Watts
K. Webb
J. Webb
S. Webb
L. Webster
R. Webster
D. Welch
I. Welsby Sjostrom
F. Wenban-Smith
L. Wenkert
L. Werner
C. Weston
J. Wexler
K. Whitehead
M. Williams
T. Williams
A. Willmott
M. Wills
H. Wilson
J. Wilson
K. Wilson
T. Wilson
C. Wing
B. Witton
D. Wood
E. Wood
V. Wood
S. Woodford
E. Woodthorpe
K. Wrobel
E. Wroe
L. Wyatt
Y. Xie
J. Xu
J. Xu
C. Yankson
A. Yano
Y. Yasumura
L. Yate
J. Yates
Q. Ye
N. Yesmin
C. York
M. Young
S. Youngs
A. Youssef
C. Yvard
J. Zahan
F. Zai
K. Zealey
L. Zhang
P. Zhang
Y. Zhang
F. Ziota
K. Zumkley
75
Appendices
World loans
Between 1 April 2010
and 31 March 2011,
BM objects have
been seen in cities
across the world
Aachen
Aberdeen
Aberystwyth
Abu Dhabi
Adelaide
Alert Bay
Amsterdam
Anglesey
Antwerp
Athens
Augsburg
Aylesbury
Balitimore
Barcelona
Basel
Bedford
Belfast
Bern
Bexhill-on-Sea
Bilbao
Birmingham
Bishop’s Stortford
Bowness-on-Windemere
Brighton
Bruges
Brussels
Bury St Edmunds
Cambridge
Canberra
Cardiff
Cheltenham
Chepstow
Chicago
Chichester
Cirencester
Cleveland
Cluny
Coburg
Colchester
Cologne
Compton Verney
Coventry
Dallas
Doha
Dover
Downpatrick
Dresden
Driffield
Durham
Durham, NC
Eastbourne
Edinburgh
Ely
Essen
Florence
Fores
Fort Worth
Frankfurt
Galmpton
Geelong
Glasgow
Gloucester
Hartlepool
Hatfield
Hexham
Honolulu
Houston
Ilford
Ipswich
Istanbul
Karlsruhe
Kendal
Kingston-upon-Hull
Kobe
Lagos
Launceston
Leeds
Leiden
Lerwick
Lexington
Lincoln
Littlehampton
Liverpool
Llanfairpwll
Lochgilphead
London
Londonderry
Los Angeles
Luton
Lyon
Madrid
Mainz
Manchester
Middlesbrough
Milan
Montreal
Morlanwelz
Munich
New York
New Haven
Newbury
Newcastle
Norwich
Nottingham
Oldenburg
Orleans
Oxford
Paris
Penzance
Perth
Plymouth
Prague
Quebec
Ravenna
Reading
Rome
Romford
Rovereto
Saarbrücken
Salem
Salisbury
Seoul
Shanghai
Sheffield
Speyer
St Louis
Stockholm
Stroud
Stuttgart
Sunderland
Swaffham
Swansea
Taiwan
Tehran
Tokyo
Tongeren
Toronto
Toulouse
Truro
Turin
Venice
Vienna
Waltham Abbey
Washington DC
Wellingborough
Welshpool
Williamstown
Woodbridge
Worcester
Worksop
York
Zurich
Text by Mark Kilfoyle
Design by McConnell Design Ltd
Printed and bound by Gavin Martin Colournet Ltd
Photo credits:
Photography at the British Museum;
Benedict Johnson; Thierry Ollivier / Musée Guimet (p.14);
Centre for Modern Optics at Glyndwr University, St Asaph (p.20);
Sarah Lee (p.21); York Museums Trust (p.30);
David Whittaker / Moray Art Centre (p.31);
National Museums Scotland (p.31);
Adam Daubney / Lincolnshire County Council (p.33);
Daily Mail / Press Association / Apex / South West News Service (p.34);
BBC (p.35); Shane Tegarden (p.39); TDIC / Foster + Partners (p.41);
Trustees of the Sidney Nolan Trust (p.47); and the Manx Museum (p.50)
© The British Museum MMXI
The British Museum
Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DG
+44 (0)20 7323 8000
[email protected]
www.britishmuseum.org
The British Museum
Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DG
www.britishmuseum.org