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• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology is the oldest public museum in Britain. Founded in 1683, it holds collections of national and international importance comprising collections of the visual arts and archaeology of Europe, Asia and North Africa and world numismatics, and also including the 17th-century founding collections and the collections formerly part of the University Galleries.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2020

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  Department of Antiquities

  The collections of the Department of Antiquities (approximately 400,000 items) cover almost the entire span of human history from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Victorian era. They incorporate the surviving parts of the Museum’s earliest collections, notably the founding collections of the Tradescants, which were given to the University by Elias Ashmole in 1683. They also include a wide-ranging and comprehensive representation of the early cultures of Europe, Egypt and the Near East, which owes much to the Museum’s long association with the field of archaeology.

  The majority of the Museum’s founding collections and records from the original Ashmolean Museum, founded in 1683, are cared-for by the Department of Antiquities. The surviving parts of the founder’s 17th-century collections are documented in A.G. MacGregor (ed.), Tradescant’s Rarities: Essays on the Foundation of the Ashmolean Museum 1683 (Oxford, 1983). The manuscript catalogues of the early Museum were published by Dr MacGregor in 2000 and 2006.

  The European Prehistory collection is one of the finest and most comprehensive in the country, particularly with reference to the antiquities of northern Europe. At its heart is the personal collection of Sir John Evans (1823-1908), one of the great pioneers of prehistoric archaeology. This material was used by him as the basis for his influential studies, Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain (London, 1897) and Ancient Bronze Implements of Great Britain and Ireland (London, 1881), still regularly consulted by scholars. A small collection illustrates Italian prehistory.

  The Early Medieval collections from Britain and Europe are especially significant, and the collection of European Migration Period metalwork is exceptional: [E.T. Leeds and D.B. Harden, The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Abingdon, Berks (Oxford, 1936); A.G. MacGregor and E. Bolick, Ashmolean Museum: A Summary Catalogue of the Anglo-Saxon Collections (NonFerrous Metals) (Oxford, 1993); A.G. MacGregor, Ashmolean Museum: A Summary Catalogue of the Continental Archaeological Collections (Roman Iron Age, Migration Period, Early Medieval) (1997); D. Hinton, A Catalogue of the Anglo-Saxon Ornamental Metalwork in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 1974)]. The Alfred Jewel, a masterpiece of late Anglo-Saxon goldsmith’s work has been described as the only Crown Jewel outside the Tower of London. The Medieval collections, especially pottery, are among the most comprehensive outside the national museums.

  The British archaeological collections at the Ashmolean Museum are central to the history of antiquarianism and archaeology in Britain. Their nucleus is also of national significance, and includes material resulting from pioneering work carried out in the Thames Valley under the auspices of the Museum up to the 1960s.

  The Aegean Prehistory collection is world famous and contains one of the richest collections of Cycladic Bronze Age material documented by E. S. Sherratt, Catalogue of the Cycladic Antiquities in the Ashmolean Museum, (Oxford, 2000), and the best collection of Minoan (Cretan) antiquities outside Greece. This is largely due to gifts made by Sir Arthur Evans, excavator of the Palace of Minos at Knossos, who virtually refounded the Ashmolean in 1894 as Keeper, and after his retirement in 1908 continued to encourage the collection with outstanding generosity, finally bequeathing a fund specially for its support. Much of the material was published in Evans’ Palace of Minos (1921-1935), supplemented by V.E.G. Kenna, Cretan Seals with a Catalogue of the Minoan Gems in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 1960) and J. Boardman, The Cretan Collection in Oxford (Oxford, 1961). A major strength of the Aegean collections is the relatively high percentage of provenanced material and the presence of the Arthur Evans Archive.

  For about a century (c. 1885-1985) the University subscribed to British excavations in Egypt and the Near East, with the result that it has the finest collection in the United Kingdom of antiquities (including inscriptions) from those regions outside the British Museum. These are particularly strong in their representation of objects of everyday use illustrating thousands of years of cultural development. Such material comes from early Mesopotamian sites such as Kish [P.R.S. Moorey, Kish Excavations, 1923-1933 (Oxford, 1978)] Ur, Nimrud [Sir Max Mallowan’s excavations: Nimrud and its Remains (London, 1966); The Nimrud Ivories [London, 1978)], Nineveh and Deve Hüyük [P.R.S. Moorey, Cemeteries of the First Millennium BC at Deve Hüyük, near Carcemish, salvaged by T.E. Lawrence and C.L. Woolley in 1913 (Oxford, 1980)], in Iraq, from Atchana and Al Mina in Syria and Turkey [Sir Leonard Woolley’s excavations: Alalakh. An Account of the Excavations at Tell Atchana (Oxford, 1955)], and from sites in Palestine and other parts of the Levant, notably Jericho [Dame Kathleen Kenyon: Excavations at Jericho (London, 1960-1983)]. In addition, there are many “Luristan” bronzes [published by P.R.S. Moorey, Catalogue of the Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 1971)], cylinder and stamp seals [published by B. Buchanan and P.R.S. Moorey, Catalogue of the Ancient Near Eastern Seals in the Ashmolean Museum I-III (Oxford, 1966-1988)]. The Cypriot collection contains important tomb-groups.

  The Egyptian collections of the Ashmolean are amongst the most extensive in Britain, and they represent every period of Egyptian civilization from prehistory to the 7th century AD. Predynastic Egypt is a notable strength. The Nubian collection is also worthy of note. Much of the Egyptian material was published by Sir Flinders Petrie in reports of the Egypt Exploration Society. The outstanding prehistoric material is published in J.C. Payne’s Catalogue of the Predynastic Egyptian Collection in the Ashmolean (Oxford, 1993; new edition 2000). The Department also houses extensive collections of papyri, ostraca, wooden labels and writing boards, including the Bodleian Library’s ostraca collections.

  The Museum’s collection of Classical Greek and Roman sculpture and inscriptions is the earliest in Britain, and was largely formed in the 17th century by Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel (the “Arundel Marbles”). It is central to the study of the classical tradition in art and architecture in these islands. The collection of Greek painted pottery is important and substantial (thanks to the efforts of Percy Gardner, Sir Arthur Evans and Sir John Beazley [P. Gardner, Catalogue of the Greek Vases in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 1893) and Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Oxford 1-3 (1927-1975)], but there are significant objects of many other kinds: bronzes, terracottas, gems [J. Boardman and M.-L. Vollenweider, Catalogue of the Engraved Gems and Finger Rings 1: Greek and Etruscan (Oxford, 1978)], and fibulae. There are important grave-groups from Thrace and the Crimea [M. Vickers, Scythian and Thracian Antiquities in Oxford [Oxford, 2000)]. The Arundel inscriptions were presented to the University in 1667, and Greek and Roman sculpture from the Arundel collection followed in 1755 [published by R. Chandler, Marmora Oxoniensia (Oxford, 1763)]. The Italic and Etruscan collection, though small, provides a representative overview of the antiquities of Iron Age Italy. The Roman collection is notable for rich type-series of gems, brooches, lamps, pottery [A.C. Brown, Catalogue of Italian Terra Sigillata in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 1968)] and glass, and for its pewter and ironwork. Excavated material comes from local sites such as the villa at Shakenoak [A.C.C. Brodribb, A.R. Hands and D.R. Walker, Excavations at Shakenoak Farm, near Wilcote, Oxfordshire (Oxford, 1971)], the Romano-Celtic shrine at Water Eaton and elsewhere.

  The Department also holds important archival and documentary material. Most notable are the Sir John and Sir Arthur Evans Archives (European Prehistory and Aegean archaeology respectively), the Allen air photographs of British archaeological sites, the Kish (Iraq) excavation archives, and archives relevant to local archaeology for a century and a half.

  Department of Western Art

  The Department of Western Art (approximately 370, 000 items) holds collections of paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, decorative arts, tapestries and musical instruments from the Middle Ages to the present day, incorporating numerous individual collections of high specialist importance.

  The wide-ranging collection of European old master drawings and prints, based on the Douce Bequest of 1834 and the purchase by public subscription in 1842 of the near-incomparable collection of drawings by Raphael and Michelangelo made by Sir Thomas Lawrence, is one of the finest assemblages in the world and, among UK museums, second only to the holdings of the British Museum. [Catalogues of the Collection of Drawings in the Ashmolean: K.T. Parker, Vol. I. Netherlandish, German, French and Spanish Schools (Oxford, 1938); K.T. Parker, Vol. II. Italian Schools, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1956); H. Macandrew, Vol. III. Italian Schools: Supplement (Oxford, 1980); D.B. Brown, Vol. IV. 17th & 18th Century English Drawings (Oxford, 1982); C. Bailey, Vol. V. Nineteenth Century German Drawings (Oxford, 1987); J. Whiteley, Vol. VI. French Ornament Drawings of the Sixteenth century (Oxford, 1994); J Whiteley, Vol. VII, French School, (2001)]. Among English drawings, those by J.M.W. Turner, Samuel Palmer, John Ruskin, and the Pre- Raphaelites are of spectacular quality [L. Herrmann, Ruskin and Turner … in the Ashmolean Museum (London, 1968); R. Hewison, Ruskin and Oxford: the Art of Education (Oxford, 1996)]. A particular strength is the work of Camille Pissarro and his family (based on the Pissarro Family Gift of 1950) [R. Brettell and C. Lloyd, Catalogue of Drawings by Camille Pissarro in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford,1980)]. Current research is focusing on Old Master drawings from the Italian and the Dutch and Flemish Schools.The paintings comprise one of the principal collections in England outside the National Museums [The Ashmolean Museum: Complete Illustrated Catalogue of Paintings (Oxford, 2004)].They are particularly rich for Renaissance Italy [C. Lloyd, A Catalogue of the Earlier Italian Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 1977)], European Baroque [C. Whistler, Baroque and Later Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum (London, 2016)], for England in the 18th and 19th centuries, and for 17th- century Holland and Flanders [C. White, Catalogue of the Dutch, Flemish and German Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, 1999], notably the Daisy Linda Ward collection of still-life paintings [F.G. Meijer, Dutch and Flemish Still-life Pictures bequeathed by Daisy Linda Ward (Oxford/Zwolle, 2003)]. Oxford had a key role in the formation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which is reflected in some much-loved key works by the protagonists, especially from the Combe Bequest of 1894. The holdings of

  English art of the early 20th century are especially representative for the Camden Town School, thanks mainly to the Bevan Gift (1957) and Sands Gift (2001). The collection of Russian art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries is also important [L. Salmina-Haskell, Russian Paintings and Drawings (Oxford, 1990)]. A new catalogue of the French paintings is currently being compiled by Jon Whiteley. The modern paintings and drawings form (especially drawings) an active collecting area. The collection of British 20th-century printmaking in traditional black-and-white modes, particularly wood-engraving, is in some respects more comprehensive even than the collection in the British Museum and has been much enriched in recent years. A small collection of avant-garde prints from German-speaking countries has been assembled in the last decade.

  The Museum’s holdings of other European arts are nationally pre-eminent or internationally important in several specific areas. The European sculpture has been described as the most important collection in Britain outside the V&A [N. Penny, Catalogue of European Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, 1540 to the Present Day, 3 vols. (Oxford, 1992); J. Warren, Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture. A Catalogue of the Ashmolean Museum collection, 3 vols, 2014]. C.D.E. Fortnum’s collections of Italian Renaissance bronzes and maiolica [T. Wilson, Italian Maiolica and Europe (Oxford, 2018)], and of rings, are each of world importance in their fields.

  The English domestic silver of the 17th and 18th centuries, based on the Farrer Bequest of 1946, rivals even the great national collection at the V&A [T. Schroder, Catalogue of British and Continental Gold and Silver in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 2009]. The Marshall Collection is the most comprehensive assemblage of early Worcester porcelain anywhere [R. Sword, The Marshall Collection of Worcester Porcelain in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 2017)]. The Hill Collection is one of the most select collections in existence of European stringed instruments in near-original condition from the 16th to the 18th centuries [J. Milnes (ed.), Musical Instruments in the Ashmolean Museum, 2011]. Other notable specialist holdings include watches from the 16th to the 19th centuries, portrait miniatures, English Delftware [A. Ray, English Delftware Pottery in the Robert Hall Warren Collection in the Ashmolean Museum (London, 1968)], English 17th-century textiles, and English 18th-century glass and pottery. Selective collections of 20th- and 21st-century British studio pottery and silver have been developed since about 2000.

  Among nationally important archive material held in the Department are the extensive holdings of correspondence of members of the Pissarro family and papers belonging to two crucial Victorian scholar-collectors of sculpture and the applied arts, C.D.E. Fortnum and J.C. Robinson.

  Department of Eastern Art

  The Department of Eastern Art (approximately 55,000 items including potsherds and longterm loans) holds the University’s collections of the art and archaeology of the Islamic world, of the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, the Himalayan region and Southeast Asia, and of China, Japan and Korea. More ethnographic objects from these regions are primarily housed in the Pitt Rivers Museum. The collections are of international importance and in almost all cases the most extensive and important of their kind in this country outside London, surpassed only by those of the British Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum. Since the opening of the Department in 1963 the collections have continued to expand greatly, both through purchases and the generosity of several benefactors.

  The Islamic collection is especially important for its ceramics, which span the period from the 8th to the 20th century, and an area stretching from Spain in the west to Afghanistan and Uzbekistan in the east. These mostly come from two gifts, that of Gerald Reitlinger [G. Reitlinger, Eastern Ceramics and other works of Art from the collections of Gerald Reitlinger (Oxford, 1981)] and of Sir Alan Barlow [G. Fehervari, Islamic Pottery: A comprehensive study based on the Barlow Collection (London, 1973); J.W. Allan, Medieval Middle Eastern Pottery (Oxford, 1971)]. The collection is also notable for its seals and talismans [L. Kalus, Catalogue of the Islamic Seals and Talismans in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 1986)], and medieval Egyptian embroideries from the Newberry Collection [Marianne Ellis, Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt (Oxford, 2001)]. The Department also holds complementary collections of Islamic metalwork; glass, including a splendid early 14th century Egyptian mosque lamp; works on paper and illuminated codices, comprising Qur’anic material and illustrated literature; textiles, including a small selection of 18th-20th century carpets and saddle bags; and ivory, including a royal Cordovan piece dated 998-999 AD.

  The Indian collection comprises representative holdings of the main phases of Indian art from the Indus Valley civilization (c.2500-1800 BC) to the period of British rule. It is particularly rich in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain sculpture in stone, bronze, terracotta and other materials [Naman Ahuja, Art and Archaeology of Ancient India: Earliest Times to the Sixth Century (Oxford, 2018); David Jongeward, Buddhist Art of Gandhara in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 2019)]. Among the more famous examples are the terracotta goddess from Tamluk (c.200 BC), acquired in the 1880s and known as “the Oxford plaque”, and the Pala stone image of Vishnu (11th century) given to the Ashmolean by Sir William Hedges in 1686, three years after the foundation. There is also a substantial collection of paintings and decorative arts of the Mughal period (1526-1858). A selection of objects was published in J.C. Harle and A.Topsfield, Indian art in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 1987). Paintings of the Mughal period are published in A. Topsfield, Indian paintings from Oxford collections (Oxford, 1994). The Department also has an important collection of Tibetan and Nepalese art including a number of early (pre-1400) examples [A. Heller, Early Himalayan Art, (2008)], and substantial collections from Central Asia and Southeast Asia. The Newberry Collection of Indian textile fragments found at Fustat in Egypt is the most important of its kind [R. Barnes, Indian block-printed textiles in Egypt: The Newberry Collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Oxford, 1997)].

  The Chinese collection represents the art and archaeology of China from the neolithic period to the present day. The early bronzes, jades and ceramics were mostly donated by Sir Herbert Ingram in 1956 and form the nucleus of the Chinese holdings. The ceramic collection is particularly strong, with the greenwares of the 3rd-11th centuries comprising the largest and most important collection of these wares outside China [M. Tregear, Catalogue of Chinese Greenware in the Ashmolean Museum Oxford (Oxford, 1976)]. The holdings of later porcelain are extensive, including a significant collection of 17th century wares mostly bequeathed by Gerald Reitlinger, and these are complemented by collections of later metalwork and decorative arts. The highly important Barlow Collection of Chinese ceramics has also recently been transferred on long-term loan to the Museum. The collection of later Chinese painting is very strong, following a series of major donations from 1995 onwards [S. Vainker, Modern Chinese Paintings: The Reyes Collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Oxford, 1996)]. Now Europe’s foremost collection of modern Chinese painting, it is displayed in the purposebuilt Chinese Paintings Gallery named after Michael and Khoan Sullivan, whose own distinguished collection of Chinese paintings has recently been bequeathed to the Museum.

  The Japanese collection includes the only serious holding of Japanese painting in Britain, other than in the British Museum [J. Katz, Japanese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Oxford, 2003)]. There is a good collection of screens [O. Impey, The art of the Japanese folding screen (Oxford, 1997)], and of Edo period (1600-1868) painting in general; particularly noteworthy are the Nanga paintings [J. Hillier, in Oriental Art, XIII, 3 (1967)] and the Shijo paintings [many of which were published in J. Hillier’s The Uninhibited Brush (London, 1974)]. The collection of Japanese export porcelain is one of the finest in the world [O. Impey, Japanese export porcelain: Catalogue of the collection of the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 2002)], while ceramics for the Japanese market are also well represented, including good examples of Arita, Nabeshima and Hirado porcelain, tea ceremony wares and Kyoto earthenwares. The other collections of Edo applied arts include Buddhist sculpture, sword furniture [unpublished catalogue of the A. H. Church collection of Japanese sword-guards (tsuba) by Albert James Koop is now available online], lacquerware for both export and domestic markets, netsuke [O. Impey, Japanese netsuke in Oxford (Oxford, 1987); J. Seaman, Manju netsuke (Oxford, 2013)] and woodblock prints [O. Impey, Hiroshige’s Views of Tokyo (Oxford,1993); O. Impey, Hiroshige’s Views of Mount Fuji (Oxford, 2001); O. Impey and M. Watanabe, Kuniyoshi’s Heroes of China and Japan (Oxford, 2003); M. Watanabe, Beauties of the Four Seasons (Oxford, 2005), C. Pollard and M. Watanabe Ito, Hiroshige – Landscape, Cityscape (Oxford, 2014), K. Hanaoka and C. Pollard, Plum Blossom & Green Willow: Japanese Surimono Prints from the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 2019)]. The collection of Meiji period (1868-1912) painting and applied art is strong and growing [O. Impey and J. Seaman, Japanese Decorative Arts of the Meiji Period (Oxford, 2005); Oriental Art, XLII, 3 (1996)]. The collection of porcelain sherd material from Arita is better than any outside Arita itself [O. Impey, The Early Porcelain Kilns of Japan (Oxford, 1996)].

  About 11,000 objects from the collection were digitised to a high standard between 2007 and 2013 thanks to the support of a private benefactor and have since been shared with the broader public on a dedicated website, Eastern Art Online (www.jameelcentre.ashmolean.org). This, in addition to our blog (http://blogs.ashmolean.org/easternart) and the new Ashmolean Museum’s main website, offer regular access to our collections and range of activities on the world wide web.

  The Department also holds important archival and documentary material of various kinds (over 116,000 items), most notably the May Beattie Archive for the study of oriental carpets, and the Creswell photographic archive of Islamic architecture, both of which are also partially digitised.

  Heberden Coin Room

  The Heberden Coin Room contains about 400,000 items, many of which are placed on long term deposit by various colleges in the University. The holdings include Ancient, Medieval and Modern coins of all countries, medals, orders and decorations, tokens, jetons, paper money, and other forms of money (‘paranumismatica’). The collection is progressively being put online through: https://hcr.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/.

  Coins and many other forms of money are mass produced so that publications routinely embrace material from many sources. The Greek collection covers all areas of the Greek world, from Spain to Bactria. It is in process of publication as Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, vol. 5, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Already published are: J.G. Milne, Part I, Evans Collection. Italy, 1951, C.M. Kraay, Part I (A), Italy, Etruria-Lucania (Thurium), 1962, id., Part II, Italy, Lucania (Thurium) – Bruttium, Sicily, Carthage, 1969, D. Nash, Part III, Macedonia, 1976, C.M. Kraay, Part IV, Paeonia-Thessaly, 1981, S. Ireland and R. Ashton, Part IX, Bosporus – Aeolis, 2007.

  The Roman collection is also extensive. All rarities have been included systematically in the standard catalogues, Roman Republican Coinage, 2 volumes, by M.H. Crawford, 1974, and Roman Imperial Coinage, 10 volumes, by various authors, 1923-1996. A start was made with the systematic publication of the whole collection in C.H.V. Sutherland and C.M. Kraay, Catalogue of the Coins of the Roman Empire in the Ashmolean Museum, Part I, Augustus (c. 31BC – AD14), published in 1975. This project has since been partially superseded by a collaborative international scheme which incorporates the Ashmolean’s coins into a catalogue of ten major collections, under the title Roman Provincial Coinage, see https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/. There is an outstanding collection of late Byzantine coins catalogued as E. Lianta, Late Byzantine Coins. 1204 – 1453 in the Ashmolean Museum, 2009.

  The English coin collection is extensive and of fine quality. Some of the most important parts of it have been published under the auspices of the British Academy’s Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles (SCBI). The earliest Anglo-Saxon coins were published in C.H.V. Sutherland, Anglo-Saxon Gold Coinage in the Light of the Crondall Hoard, 1948. The so-called sceattas of the 7th and 8th centuries are all published and discussed in D.M. Metcalf, Thrymsas and Sceattas in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (3 volumes, 1993-4). For later coins, see J.D.A. Thompson, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Anglo-Saxon Pennies, 1967 (=SCBI, vol. 7), and D.M. Metcalf, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Part II, English Coins, 1066-1279, 1969 (=SCBI, vol. 12). The E.J. Winstanley collection is included in D.M. Metcalf, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Part III, Coins of Henry VII, 1976 (=SCBI, vol. 23). The rich series of Scottish coins, from the Hird gift, are published jointly with the Glasgow collection in J.D. Bateson and N.J. Mayhew, Scottish Coins in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow, 1987 (=SCBI, vol. 35).

  The Ashmolean has an outstanding collection of Crusader coins, of which the catalogue is the standard work on the subject: D.M. Metcalf, Coinage of the Crusades and the Latin East in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (2nd edition, 1995).

  The museum’s Islamic coins, including the former Shamma loan, are being published as the Sylloge of Islamic Coins in the Ashmolean Museum (SICA). The following volumes have been published so far: S. Album and Tony Goodwin, Vol. 1, The Pre-Reform Coinage of the Early Islamic Period, 2002, N.D. Nicol, Vol. 2, Early Post-Reform Coinage, 2009, N.D. Nicol, Vol. 6, The Egyptian Dynasties, 2007, S. Album, Vol. 9, Iran after the Mongol Invasion, 2001, and S. Album, Vol. 10, Arabia and East Africa, 1999. The collection of South Asian and Far Eastern coin collection constitute a major body of evidence for subjects with international academic interest such as Gandharan Art and the History of collecting coins in China and Japan. The Indian coin collection is mainly formed through the Shortt Bequest and includes collections of important collectors of oriental coins such as Sir Aurel Stein, P Thorburn, Alfred Master and H E Stapleton. The Senior Collection of Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian coins is by far the most important numismatic evidence for Gandhara and has been published as a type catalogue by Senior (R C Senior, Indo-Scythian Coinage and History, vols. I-IV, 2001). The collections of the coinage of the Bengal Sultanate, the Mughals, and the British East India Company are also noteworthy. The far eastern coin collection has recently been rearranged. It includes significant holdings of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese coins.

  The collection of modern coins and paper money is largely an incidental collection, formed through individual donations rather than as a result of a focussed acquisition strategy. However, it includes numismatic material of great significance to collectors of modern monies, such as coins preserved in high collectible grades, coins issued during wars or episodes of emergency and banknotes of very high denominations. Joe Cribb, the former Keeper of Coins and Medals in the British Museum, has gifted a collection of nearly 2000 modern banknotes to the department.

  Many commemorative medals in the Ashmolean’s large collection are listed in Medallic Illustrations of British History (19 parts, 1904-1911) and in more detail in L. Brown, A Catalogue of British Historical Medals 1760-1960 (2 vols., 1980-1987).

  Cast Gallery

  The Cast Gallery possesses about 1,100 plaster casts of Greek and Roman sculpture, most of which were acquired before 1925. The collection was started in the late 19th-century to serve as a teaching facility for the then new subject of Classical Archaeology in the University. The casts provide a strong and exact three-dimensional representation of Greek and Roman statues and reliefs in marble and bronze, from the beginning of Greek statue-making in the sixth century BC to late Roman material of the sixth century AD.

  At first the casts were displayed among original pieces in the main museum. In 1961, the collection was moved to its current purpose-built Cast Gallery. And in 2010, after the renovation of the main museum, the Cast Gallery was also renovated and connected directly to the main museum. The collection was completely re-displayed along thematic lines. At the same time, major casts were included in displays in the main museum, most notably in the central atrium.

  Recent acquisitions have been concentrated on increasing the presence of Hellenistic and Roman material. Since 1995, more than 100 new pieces have been added. The collection is fully documented, photographed, and published in Rune Frederiksen and R. R. R. Smith, Cast Gallery of the Ashmolean Museum: Catalogue of Plaster Casts of Greek and Roman Sculpture (2013).

  The Cast Gallery has one curator who is also the fulltime Lincoln Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art in the University (R.R.R. Smith) and one half-time Assistant Curator (Milena Melfi).

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2020

  Licence: CC BY-NC