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A Collector's Life: William Burrell
In 1944, Glasgow received one of the greatest gifts ever made to any city in the world: a collection of over 6,000 artworks of many types spanning centuries and civilisations. The benefactors were Glasgow-born shipping magnate Sir William Burrell and Constance, Lady Burrell. Burrell's success in business allowed him to...
Bellamy, Martin ; MacDonald, Isobel
Museum studies; William Burrell; history of collecting
Down to Earth Archaeology
Professor William Y. Adams presents sixteen papers on Nubia, written at various times during his lengthy and productive academic career. Most of those selected had been previously published only in a limited way; encompassing a wide range of topics, Adams wanted to enable them to reach a wider readership than...
Adams, William Y. ; Anderson, Julie R.
archaeology and Nubia
Stonehenge is one of the best known, but most misunderstood, monuments in the world. Contrary to the common belief, it was not a static, unchanging structure built by shadowy figures or druids. Rather, it represents the cumulative achievement of numerous generations who were woven into a complex and widespread network...
Garrow, Duncan ; Wilkin, Neil
Stonehenge; prehistory; archaeology
Ancestors, Artefacts, Empire: Indigenous Australia in British and Irish Museums
Museums across Great Britain and Ireland hold Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (collectively referred to as 'Indigenous') cultural heritage of exceptional value which is largely unknown, rarely seen and poorly understood. Gifted, sold, exchanged and bartered by Indigenous people, and accepted, bought, collected and taken by travellers, colonists, explorers, missionaries,...
Sculthorpe, Gaye ; Nugent, Maria ; Morphy, Howard
Indigenous Australia; material culture; museum studies
The accompanying hardback title to the British Museum exhibition Hokusai: The Great Picture Book of Everything. This landmark publication documents a major new discovery of over 100 drawings by the foremost Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai. Acquired by the British Museum in 2020, these previously unpublished drawings had been forgotten for...
Clark, Tim
drawings, Japanese art, and Hokusai
Thomas Becket: murder and the making of a saint
The murder of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral on 29 December 1170 sent shockwaves across medieval Europe. He rose from ordinary beginnings in London to become chancellor to King Henry II and then Archbishop of Canterbury, making him one of the most powerful men in England. Becket's fortunes changed when...
de Beer, Lloyd ; Speakman, Naomi ; Koopmans, Rachel
Middle Ages, Thomas Becket, and Religious history
Peru: a journey in time
The accompanying catalogue to the British Museum exhibition Peru: a journey in time. The environments of the Central Andean region in Peru, South America, are some of the most geographically rich and diverse in the world. This publication highlights the history, beliefs and cultural achievements of the different peoples who...
Cooper, Jago ; Pardo, Cecilia
archaeology, Peru, and material culture
Nero: the man behind the myth
One of the best known figures from Roman history, Nero (r. AD 54–68) is most often characterised as a tyrannical and ineffectual ruler, who fiddled while Rome burnt. Such a reputation has, however, been shaped by ancient literary sources written by his adversaries and enemies and, in light of new...
Opper, Thorsten
Nero, Roman empire, and history
Museum, Magic, Memory: Curating Paul Denys Montague
An investigation of the work of curation and of reactivating a colonial era collection by working with communities of origin, told through the lens of a particular collection made by Paul Montague in New Caledonia in 1914.
Adams, Julie
Curation, Museum, and Anthropology
Making Change: The Decimalisation of Britain's Currency
On a grey, drizzly Monday, 15 February 1971, Britain went decimal. Ten years in the planning, 'D-Day' upended a currency system that had been unchanged for more than a millennium. A national effort requiring cooperation at every level of society, many expected decimalisation to be a disaster. This is the...
decimalisation and modern British coins
The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry: Unravelling the Norman Conquest
Political intrigue and treachery, heroism and brutal violence, victory and defeat - all this is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, an epic account of one of the pivotal episodes in English history embroidered on a strip of linen. Famously, it shows the stricken Anglo-Saxon king Harold dying on the battlefield...
Musgrove, David ; Lewis, Michael
embroidery, 1066, Bayeux Tapestry, and Norman Conquest
Precious Treasures from the Diamond Throne: Finds from the Site of the Buddha's Enlightenment
The Mahābodhi temple at Bodhgayā in eastern India has long been recognised as the place where the Buddha sat in meditation and attained enlightenment. The site, soon identified as the 'Diamond Throne' or vajrāsana, became a destination for pilgrims and a focus of religious attention for more than two thousand...
Buddhist studies and archaeology
Charles Masson: Collections from Begram and Kabul Bazaar, Afghanistan, 1833–1838
From 1833–8, Charles Masson (1800–1853) was employed by the British East India Company to explore the ancient sites in south-east Afghanistan. In return for funding his exploration of the ancient sites of Afghanistan, the British East India Company received all of Masson's finds. These were sent to the India Museum...
Errington, Elizabeth
numismatics, Buddhist studies, and archaeology
Pots, Prints and Politics: Ceramics with an Agenda, from the 14th to the 20th Century
From the introduction of woodblock printing in China to the development of copper-plate engraving in Europe, the print medium has been used around the world to circulate knowledge. Ceramic artists across time and cultures have adapted these graphic sources as painted or transfer-printed images applied onto glazed or unglazed surfaces...
Ferguson, Patricia F.
European art, Asian art, and Ceramics
Ceramic Exchange and the Indian Ocean Economy (AD 400–1275) Volume I: Analysis
From AD 500–1000, the Indian Ocean emerged as a global commercial centre, and by around 750–800 a sophisticated trade network had been established involving the movement of goods from Japan and China in the east, to southern Africa and Spain in the west. However, the Indian Ocean's commercial system has...
Priestman, Seth M.N.
Indian Ocean, maritime history, and archaeology
Ceramic Exchange and Indian Ocean Economy (AD 400–1275). Volume II: Indian Ocean Pottery Classification
Imagining the Divine: Art in Religions of Late Antiquity Across Eurasia
This groundbreaking volume brings together scholars of the art and archaeology of late antiquity (c. 200−1000), across cultures and regions reaching from India to Iberia, to discuss how objects can inform our understanding of religions. During this period major transformations are visible in the production of religious art and in...
Elsner, Jaś ; Wood, Rachel
late antiquity, art history, and Religious studies
A Royal Renaissance Treasure and its Afterlives: The Royal Clock Salt
At centre stage in this volume is the Royal Clock Salt, an exceptional national treasure from the courtly culture of the Renaissance. Most probably made in Paris around 1530 by Pierre Mangot, the royal goldsmith to Francis I, the Clock Salt is somewhere between a jewel and a table ornament....
Schroder, Timothy ; Thornton, Dora
metalwork, European art, and history of collecting
Objects as Insights: R.H. Codrington's Ethnographic Collections from Melanesia
R.H. Codrington (1830–1922) graduated from Oxford University in 1856 and was ordained in 1857. He volunteered to work in Nelson, New Zealand, from 1860–4 and was appointed as headmaster of the Melanesian Mission training school on Norfolk Island in 1867. He spent the next twenty years in this post and...
Stanley, Nick
material culture, Melanesia, Codrington, collecting history, anthropology, and Pacific studies
Hunnic Peoples in Central and South Asia: Sources for their Origin and History
This volume is a comprehensive compilation of primary textual sources pertaining to the history of Hunnic peoples in the vast area encompassing Central and South Asia. Sources in nearly a dozen languages have been carefully selected by scholars with a specialisation in the particular language and relevant research experience. Each...
Balogh, Dániel
Sylloge Nummorum Parthicorum 2, Mithradates II
The second volume of "Sylloge Nummorum Parthicorum" examines the history and culture of the reign of Mithradates II (c. 122/1‒91 BC), who consolidated and expanded the Parthian state. In addition to his coinage, the present volume draws on other primary sources, such as cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia, in order to...
Sarkhosh Curtis, Vesta ; Magub, Alexandra ; J. Pendleton, Elizabeth ; C.D. Hopkins, Edward
Numismatics; Parthians
The Royal Navy in Indigenous Australia, 1795–1855
This book offers the first in-depth enquiry into the origins of the 135 Indigenous Australian objects acquired by the Royal Navy between 1795 and 1855, and held now by the British Museum. In response to increasing calls for the 'decolonisation' of museums, and the restitution of ethnographic collections, the book...
Simpson, Daniel
Royal Navy; ethnographic collecting; Australia; museum studies
Repurposing Ritual. Pap. Berlin P. 10480-82: A Case Study from Middle Kingdom Asyut
Repurposing Ritual is the editio princeps of a group of papyrus fragments from ancient Asyut in Middle Egypt currently kept in the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung in Berlin. The papyri are significant for the study of ancient Egyptian religious and funerary culture because they contain in a neat hieratic handwriting...
Egyptology, text transmission, mortuary ritual, and written culture
Iron Age and Roman Coin Hoards in Britain
More coin hoards have been recorded from Roman Britain than from any other province of the Empire. This comprehensive and lavishly illustrated volume provides a survey of over 3260 hoards of Iron Age and Roman coins found in England and Wales with a detailed analysis and discussion. Theories of hoarding...
Bland, Roger ; Chadwick, Adrian ; Ghey, Eleanor ; Haselgrove, Colin ; Mattingly, David J.
archaeology, hoards, artefacts, numismatics, Roman, Iron Age, and landscape
Model of a Summer Camp
The Model of a Summer Camp is a fascinating object with a range of stories to tell. Originating in the Sakha (Yakutia) region of far northeastern Russia, it depicts a yhyakh celebration – a festival of huge cultural importance to the region. This concise book takes a detailed look at...
Argounova-Low, Tatiana ; Brown, Alison K. ; Jansari, Sushma
Often imaged as one of the most inhospitable places on Earth, the Arctic has in fact been inhabited for nearly 30,000 years. The various communities that call the region home have found ingenious ways to harness and celebrate the environment, and to co-exist with its wildlife. Today, man-made climate change...
Lincoln, Amber ; Cooper, Jago ; Laurens Loovers, Jan Peter
Arctic and climate change
Living with Art: The Alexander Walker Collection
In 2004 the British Museum received a bequest of 211 modern and contemporary prints and drawings from the London-based film critic Alexander Walker (1930–2003). Undoubtedly one of the most important bequests in recent years, the acquisition of these works has transformed and significantly expanded the Museum's collection of modern and...
Daunt, Catherine
British Museum, collection, art, contemporary, modern, collector, private collection, London, critic, collecting, film, prints, artists, drawings, and art market
Piranesi Drawings: Visions of Antiquity
The British Museum's collection of 51 drawings by the Venetian 18th-century artist is published and analysed for the first time with new findings about their dating, function and provenance
Vowles, Sarah
antiquity, drawing, and Piranesi
Asia Collections in Museums outside Asia: Questioning Artefacts, Cultures and Identities
Wang, Helen ; Carbone, Iside
collections, Asia, and museums
Reflections: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa
The contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa is rich and vibrant. Whether living in their countries of birth or in diaspora, the featured artists are part of the globalised world of art. Here we see artists responding to and making work about their present, histories, traditions and...
Porter, Venetia ; Tripp, Charles ; Morris, Natasha
North Africa, Middle East, and Contemporary art
Rivalling Rome: Parthian Coins and Culture
One hundred years after the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander of Macedon, we see the emergence of a new Iranian dynasty that, by 140 BC, has extended its rule to Western Iran and Mesopotamia. The Arsacid Parthians, famous for their riding and archery skills, became Rome's most dangerous...
Sarkhosh Curtis, Vesta ; Magub, Alexandra
Parthian Empire and Roman Empire, numismatics
Edmund de Waal: Library of Exile
Edmund de Waal: library of exile has been published to accompany the British Museum and Edmund de Waal's art installation of the same name. A preface by Booker Prize-nominated author Elif Shakef considers the importance of literature and its capacity to transcend language and borders. The introduction from British Museum...
de Waal, Edmund
British Museum and Edmund de Waal
Published to accompany the British Museum exhibition Tantra: enlightenment to revolution explores the radical philosophy that transformed the religious, cultural and political landscape of India and beyond. Originating in early medieval India, Tantra has been linked to successive waves of revolutionary thought; from its 6th century transformation of Hinduism and...
Tantra and India
Thunderbird. A Temple Hymn from Ancient Sumer
Thunderbird brings to life a temple hymn from ancient Mesopotamia that celebrates the power and splendour of the divine House of Ningirsu, built by the Sumerian ruler Gudea. Dating back 4,000 years, the hymn describes the earliest recorded dream in history – a divine commission sent to Gudea as an...
Rey, Sebastien ; Rebet, Christine
Temple Hymn, Ancient Myth, Girsu, Gudea, and Sumer
Book[remove]275
Wang, Helen9
Needham, Stuart6
Burnett, Andrew5
Spencer, Jeffrey5
Attwood, Philip4
Egyptology25
Roman Britain13
English and Japanese1
British Museum Research Publications210
British Museum Research Repository275
File publicly available86
External link (access may be restricted)59
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