British Museum Department of Asia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chinese stoneware statue of a judgement figure, 16th century, Ming Dynasty.
Chinese stoneware statue of a judgement figure, 16th century, Ming Dynasty.

The Department of Asia in the British Museum is one of the largest collections of historical artifacts from Asia, consisting of over 70,000 objects covering the material culture of the Asian continent (including East Asia, South and Central Asia, and Southeast Asia), and dating from the Neolithic age up to the present.[1] (The collection formerly included objects from the Islamic world, but these have recently been merged with the Department of the Ancient Near East to form the Department of the Middle East.)

Contents

[edit] History of the Department

The department's collection began with a donation from Sir Hans Sloane, which contained a small number of objects from the Asian continent, including a collection of Japanese material acquired from the family of the German traveller and physician Engelbert Kaempfer (who had led an expedition to Japan). Only a few objects were acquired from Asia between 1753 and the 1820s, but the collection expanded in the early 19th century to become one of the world's largest. This was mainly through a donation of a number of South Asian artifacts, such as the gilded bronze figure of Tara from Sri Lanka in 1830, the Bridge Collection of East and Central Indian sculpture in 1872, and the Amaravati Collection in 1880. The collection of Asian material continued during the tenure of Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks as Keeper of the Department of Antiquities from 1866 to 1896, and in 1921 the Sub-Department of Oriental Antiquities was established. In 1933, the Asian collections of the Prints and Drawings Sub-Department were united with the Department of Oriental Antiquities, forming one of the most significant collections of art and antiquities of Asia in the northern hemisphere. In 2003, the Department of Oriental Antiquities and the Department of Japanese Antiquities merged to become the current Department of Asia.[2]

[edit] Highlights of the collection

Highlights include:

  • The most comprehensive collection of sculpture from the Indian subcontinent in the world, including the celebrated Buddhist limestone reliefs from Amaravati.[3]
  • An outstanding collection of Chinese antiquities, paintings, porcelain, lacquer, bronze, jade, and other applied arts.
  • A fine collection of Buddhist paintings from Dunhuang, and the Admonitions Scroll by Gu Kaizhi.
  • A broad range of Islamic pottery, paintings, tiles, metalwork, glass, seals, and inscriptions.
  • The most comprehensive collection of pre-20th century Japanese decorative arts in the Western world.

[edit] The layout and collections of the department

Most of the Department of Asia is located in the northern section of the museum. It is split into several rooms and four main geographic areas:

  • The China, South and South East Asia section is located in rooms 33 and 33a on the ground floor.
  • The Islam section is located in room 34 on the ground floor.
  • The Japan section is located in rooms 92, 93 and 94 on the upper floor.
  • The Korea section is located in rooms 67 and 67a on the upper floor.

[edit] China, South and South East Asia collection (including India)

The China collection is one of the largest collections of Chinese historical artifacts in the Western world. It focuses on porcelain, paintings, scripts and basic tools, with items ranging in date from the Neolithic era to the 20th century. One of the most important items is a collection of rare Buddhist paintings from Dunhuang. China was one of the first countries to use coins, and the museum also has a large collection of Chinese coins (housed in the Department of Coins and Medals).

Objects in the Indian collections of the Department date from some of the earliest civilisations in the Indus valley, about 7000 years ago. As well as ancient artifacts, the Indian collections include excellent examples of pottery, art (including many rare Mughal paintings), traditional scriptwork, and a large display of sculpture, including carvings from the Great Stupa at Amaravati. India is also represented in the money collections, with a large number of coins dating back to the 4th century BC.

Asian Gallery: India Section

Ganesha sculpture

Amravati Gallery

Asian Gallery: China Section

[edit] Islam collection

The John Addis gallery (room 34) houses the museum's collection of Islamic art. This includes objects from the earliest centuries of Islam to the 20th century, and geographically from Egypt to Spain to India. The gallery's arrangement is mainly chronological, with western Islam — Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Turkey — on the left of the descending staircase, and eastern Islam — Iran, Afghanistan and India — on the right. At the end of the gallery are cases on Islamic Spain, science, arms and armour, coinage and a changing exhibition of contemporary graphics. The British Museum is actively collecting 20th century material from the Islamic world, including calligraphy, popular religious prints, political posters, studio pottery and a rare 11th century Qu'ran.

The John Addis Gallery

The John Addis Gallery

11th Century North African Koran

13th Century Arabic Frieze

[edit] Japan collection

The Japanese section of the Asian department holds one of the most comprehensive collections of Japanese material culture in Europe. The Japanese galleries, Rooms 92–94 (the Konica-Minolta, Main and Urasenke galleries), were opened on 6 April 1990[4], and include prints, printed books, paintings, ceramics, swords, decorative arts, and early archaeological material. Part of the collection includes a tea house, sponsored and built by the Urasenke Foundation, which exhibits both modern tea utensils and historic tea ceremony wares.

British Museum, Japanese section - Samurai armour

British Museum, Japanese section - Boddhisattva

[edit] Korea collection

The Korea Foundation Gallery houses the museum's collection of Korean art and archaeology, widely regarded as the finest in Europe[who?]. Objects from pre-history to the present day include stone sculpture, paintings, printed books, screens and folk art, as well as ceramics, lacquerware, gold and bronze. Highlights of the exhibition include a reconstruction of a traditional Korean sarangbang (a study in a Korean home) and fine examples of 15th century Korean script.

Traditional Korean sarangbang (Study room) Exterior

Korean Gallery

Traditional Korean sarangbang (Study room) Interior

Korean Gallery

Examples of early Korean script and handwriting

[edit] References

  1. ^ British Museum - Asia. Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
  2. ^ British Museum - History of the collection. Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
  3. ^ British Museum - Room 33a: Amaravati
  4. ^ British Museum - Asia galleries

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
v • d • e
The British Museum
Architecture
Departments
Objects
People
Places
v • d • e
Museums with major collections of Asian Art
  1. Forbidden City *, Beijing, China
    1,000,000 objects [1]
  2. National Palace Museum *, Taipei, Taiwan
    700,000 objects [1]
  3. National Museum of China *¹, Beijing, China
    620,000 objects [2]
  4. Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
    160,000 objects [3]
  5. National Museum of Korea, Seoul, South Korea
    150,000 objects [4]
  6. Shanghai Museum *, China
    120,000 objects [5]
  7. National Museum ², Japan
    120,000 objects [6]
  1. British Library ³, London, UK
    90,000 objects [7] [8]
  2. British Museum, London, UK
    75,000 objects [9] [10]
  3. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
    60,000 objects [11]]
  4. Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France
    58,000 objects [12]
  5. Musee Guimet, Paris, France
    ~50,000 objects [13]
  6. Museum of Fine Arts **, Boston, USA
    ~40,000 objects [14]
  7. Horniman Museum, London, UK
    32,000 objects [15]
  1. Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Berlin, Germany
    20,000 objects [16]
  2. Art Institute of Chicago ***, USA
    35,000 objects [17]
  3. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, D.C., USA
    18,200 objects [18]
  4. Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, USA
    17,000 objects [19]
  5. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
    10,450 objects [20]

Please Note - * : These three museum's specialise in only Chinese items, the collections are not comprehensive for all Asia - *¹ National Museum of China: Includes contemporary collections, science & technology and decorative arts, however the vast majority derives from the Imperial collection, divided between Beijing and the National Palace Museum, Taipei - ² National Museum: This includes the combined holdings of the three museums that make up the National Museum, i.e. Tokyo National Museum, Kyoto National Museum, Nara National Museum - ³ British Library: No sculptures or architecural elements, the world's largest collection of ancient manuscripts from Asia, including the Stein Collection - Misleading Collection: ² Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Asian collection includes books, prints, postcards and modern paraphernalia, website indicates a massive collection, which is misleading - Misleading Collection: ³ Art Institute of Chicago: The Near & Middle East objects are included within the scope of the collection, overinflates size.

n.b. it should be noted that this list is controversial, in so far as it contains only qualitative analysis of museum holdings. These may or may not reflect actual artistic quality of collections in question.