Collection: The British Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Department of Prehistory and Europe

  The Department of Prehistory and Europe is responsible for collections that cover a vast expanse of time from the earliest human tools in Africa and Asia 2 million years ago to the art and archaeology of Europe from the earliest times to the present day, including the history of Britain under Roman occupation.

  Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities

  The Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities of the British Museum has one of the most comprehensive collections of antiquities from the Classical world, with over 100,000 objects. These mostly range in date from the beginning of the Greek Bronze Age (about 3200BC) to the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine in the 4th century AD, with some pagan survivals. The Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean cultures are represented, and the Greek collection includes important sculpture from the Parthenon in Athens, as well as elements of two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. The Department also houses one of the widest-ranging collections of Italic and Etruscan antiquities and extensive groups of material from Cyprus. The collections of ancient jewellery and bronzes, Greek vases and Roman glass and silver are particularly important.

  Department of Ethnography

  The collections of the Department of Ethnography comprise around 350,000 objects, representing the cultures of indigenous peoples throughout the world. Their scope is both contemporary and historical, and focus on Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Pacific and Australia, the Americas and Eastern Europe. The bulk of the material was acquired in the 19th and 20th centuries and largely dates from this time. Collecting continues today and fieldwork currently being carried out in Alaska, the Southwestern United States, Romania and Tunisia has resulted in some recent acquisitions which have already been exhibited.

  Department of the Ancient Near East

  The Department of the Ancient Near East covers the ancient civilisations of the Near East from the Neolithic period until the arrival of Islam in the 7th century AD. There is a wide range of archaeological material and ancient art from Mesopotamia (Iraq); Iran; the Levant (Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel); Anatolia (Turkey); Arabia; Central Asia and the Caucasus. Highlights of the collection include Assyrian reliefs, treasure from the Royal Cemetery of Ur, the Oxus Treasure, Phoenician ivories and the library of cuneiform tablets from Nineveh.

  Department of Prints and Drawings

  The Department of Prints and Drawings contains the national collection of Western prints and drawings. It is one of the top three collections of its kind in the world. There are approximately 50,000 drawings and over two million prints dating from the beginning of the 15th century up to the present day. They cover the history of drawing and printmaking as fine arts, with large holdings of the works of such important artists as Drer, Michelangelo, Raphael, Rembrandt and Goya. There are also large documentary collections of historical, satirical and topographical prints, as well as important collections of printed ephemera, such as trade and visiting cards, fans and playing cards. The Department also has the most extensive reference library in the United Kingdom relating to the history of prints and drawings, comprising about 50,000 books, periodicals and sale catalogues. There is a small collection of illustrated books, but the national collection of these is in the British Library. Oriental drawings and prints are kept in the Department of Asia.

  Department of Asia

  The scope of the Department of Asia is extremely wide: its collections cover the material remains of the whole Asian continent from the Neolithic up to the present day. The pre-Neolithic material is curated by the Department of Prehistory and Europe. There are exceptions, the biggest being Near Eastern archaeology before Islam, which is covered by the Department of the Ancient Near East, coins in the Department of Coins and Medals, and ethnographic material in the Department of Ethnography. The interests of the Department covers a vast area geographically and historically, including Asian culture from China and Korea to Turkey, from Central Asia to Indonesia, and even in the case of Islam extending beyond Asia to North Africa and Spain. Focus is in particular on the cultures of China, India, and Islam. Key areas of the collections include the most comprehensive collection of sculpture from the Indian subcontinent in the world, including the celebrated Buddhist limestone reliefs from Amaravati as well as an outstanding collection of Chinese antiquities, paintings, and porcelain, lacquer, bronze, jade, and other applied arts including the collection of Buddhist paintings from Dunhuang in Central Asia and the Admonitions Scroll by Gu Kaizhi and a broad range of Islamic pottery, paintings, tiles, metalwork, glass, seals, and inscriptions. The Department also houses one of the most comprehensive collections of Japanese material culture in Europe, comprising about 25,000 objects. The collection includes early archaeological material; the arts of Buddhism; secular sculpture; netsuke and inro; lacquerware; swords and sword furniture; metalwork; secular paintings, prints and printed books; textiles; ceramics including porcelain and tea ceremony wares and utensils. For the pre-20th century, the decorative arts are among the finest in the Western world, while for paintings and prints the collection is pre-eminent within Europe, both for scope and quality.

  Numismatic Collection

  The Department of Coins and Medals is home to one of the world’s finest numismatic collections, comprising about one million objects. The collection spans the entire history of coinage from its origins in the 7th century BC to the present day, and related material such as coin weights, tokens and money-boxes. The Department also holds the national collection of paper money, ranging from one of the earliest 14th-century Chinese banknotes to the euro, as well as a magnificent selection of commemorative and art medals from the Italian Renaissance to the present. The collection of British coins and tokens is the most extensive and complete in the world, comprising around 175,000 items. The collection aims to thoroughly document and represent the history of British coinage and currency from the earliest Anglo-Saxon coins of the 7th century AD to the present day. This collection is subdivided into the issues of England, Scotland and Ireland and is generally organised by reign. Tokens and other paranumismatica are organised by type: private tokens (17th, 18th and 19th centuries), coin weights, tickets, passes, jettons etc. The collection of European and World coins in the British Museum consists of around 300,000 objects and is among the most wide-ranging and representative in the world, covering the rich and complex coinages of medieval and early modern Europe, the coinages of the European colonial empires and the modern coinages of the Americas, Africa and Oceania. The Medal Collection comprises c. 70,000 objects, from Italian Renaissance medals of the 15th century to contemporary medals made by artists around the world today. In addition, the department’s 12,000 badge collection covers 19th and 20th centuries with a particular focus on political badges. These come from all round the world, with Britain and the USA particularly well represented. The majority are post-WWII with a concentration of material from the 1970s and 1980s. The Greek Collection contains over 61,000 Greek coins and 28,000 Greek Imperial coins, covering Spain, Gaul, Italy, Greece and the Balkans, the Black Sea, Asia Minor, the Near and Middle East, Arabia and North Africa. It is subdivided into two chronological sections: Greek coinage from the beginnings of coinage in the 7th century BC to 31 BC, and Greek Imperial coinage (also known as Roman Provincial coinage) from 31 BC to mid 3rd century AD. The Greek section also includes related coin series such as Punic (the Carthaginian Empire), Judaean (Ancient Jewish), and Axumite (the ancient kingdom of Northern Ethiopia). The Roman Collection consists of approximately 115,000 objects produced at Rome and across the Empire from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD. These are mostly coins (gold, silver and base metal), but also includes medallions, ingots, tokens, coin weights and even a couple of coin dies. There are also about 6,000 ancient coin forgeries and 5,000 modern forgeries of Roman coins (some created as early as the Renaissance). The Byzantine section (AD 498-1453) consists of around 12,000 coins in gold, silver and copper-alloy. This includes the ‘Barbarian’ coinages of the successor kingdoms to the Western Roman Empire (such as the Goths, Vandals, Franks and Lombards) who remained in the orbit of Constantinople. The pre-Islamic Iranian collection includes coins of the Parthian and Sasanian dynasties, covering the period of c. 3rd century BC to the 7th century AD. The Islamic Collection begins with the earliest Arab-Sasanian and Arab Byzantine coinage in the 7th century AD, the Islamic reformed coins of the Umayyads, as well as later dynasties. Included in the collection are also Ottoman, Safavids and modern coins of the Middle East. The Modern Money collection includes more than 175,000 coins, tokens and paper money dating from 1700 to the present day, covering Africa, the Americas, Europe and Australasia. Active contemporary collecting means that several thousand new objects are added to the collection each year, including not just coins and paper money, but also credit cards and other contemporary money-related objects. There are very significant holdings of British colonial coins and notes, including important early American coins and coins and notes transferred from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The department also has on permanent loan the collection of the Institute of Financial Services (formerly the Chartered Institute of Bankers).

  Subjects

  Numismatics; Money; Metrology; Tokens; Tickets; Medals; Bank notes; Coins; Trade tokens

  Ancient Egyptian and Sudanese Collection

  The museum holds over well over 80,000 ancient Egyptian and Sudanese objects. Classes of objects represented in the collection include: amulets; animal remains (mummies); basketry/ropes; canopic boxes; canopic jars; coffins; coins; cosmetic palettes; faience figures; faience vessels; flints; food/plant material; foundation deposits; funerary cones; furniture; glass vessels; jewellery; human remains (mummies); metal figures; metal vessels; musical instruments; offering tables; ostraca; papyri; pottery; ‘ Ptah-Sokar-Osiris’ figures; relief sculpture; sarcophagi (stone); scarabs/sealings; shabtis; shabti boxes; soul houses; stelae (stone); stelae (wood); stone figures; stone vessels; textiles/leather; toilet articles; tomb models; tools/weapons; wall paintings; wooden figures. In addition, there is a collection of over six million prehistoric artefacts from excavations between 1963 and 1997 in Egypt and the Sudan conducted by Fred Wendorf, Emeritus Professor of Prehistory at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. There is also the Rosemarie and Dietrich Klemm collection of some thousands stone samples from pharaonic stone quarries. Objects are known to have come from the following locations in Egypt (with the name of the excavator/sponsor and year of excavation given where possible): Abu Hommus (Petrie, acq. 1885); Abu Roash (inc. Petrie, acq. 1884); Abu Simbel (Belzoni, acq. 1835; Wendorf, acq. 2001); Abuqir; Abusir (the Memphite one); Abydos ([?], 1897; inc. Amelineau, acq. 1965; Brunton, acq. 1991; EEF, acq. 1900-3; acq. 1909-14, acq. 1922, acq. 1925-7, acq. 1976, acq. 1979, acq. 1982, acq. 1985; acq. 1988; ERA, acq. 1979; Garstang, 1908-9, acq. 1912, acq. 1920-1; Naville, Hall, Peet [EEF], acq. 1910; Petrie [EEF], acq. 1902); Akhmim (inc. EEF, acq. 1885; Hogarth, acq. 1907); Alexandria; Amarna (inc. EEF/EES, acq. 1921-7, acq. 1929-35, acq. 1937, acq. 1974, acq. 1976, acq. 1983-7, acq. 1994, acq. 1939; Petrie, acq. 1891, acq. 1894, acq. 1930); El-Amrah (EEF, acq. 1900-1; EES, acq. 1922); el-Araba el-Madfuna; Armant (inc. Mond, acq. 1929; EES, acq. 1928-9, acq. 1931, acq. 1935, acq. 1985, acq. 1988, acq. 1997); el-Ashmunein (BM Exped. to Middle Egypt, acq. 1979, acq. 1986); Asiut (inc. Hogarth, acq. 1907); Aswan; Atfih; Awlad Yehia; Badari (inc. Brunton [BSAE], 1924-5, acq. 1923-5, acq. 1929); Oxyrhynchus (inc. BSAE, acq. 1922; EEF/EES, acq. 1903, acq. 1905-7, acq. 1910-11, acq. 1919, acq. 1935, acq. 1968, acq. 1979; Hall, Naville [EEF], acq. 1906); el-Bawiti; Ballas (inc. Brunton, acq. 1991; Garstang, acq. 1982; Petrie, acq. 1895); Benha; Benha el-Assal; Beni Hasan (inc. EEF, acq. 1895; Garstang, acq. 1903-5, acq. 1956); Berenike; Bir Kiseiba (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Bir Sahara (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Bir Tarfawi (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Bulaq; Cairo; Cynopolis; Dahshur; Dakhla oasis (Wendorf, acq. 2001); el-Dakka; Damanhur; Deir el-Dyk; Deir el-Ezba; Deir el-Bersha; Deir Balyza; Deir el-Bersha (EEF, acq. 1894); Deir Manaos; Derr; Dendera; Dishasha; Dra Abu el-Naga; Edfu (inc. Wendorf, acq. 2001); Edwa; Elephantine; Esna (Garstang, 1905, also acq. 1982); Fayum (BSAE, inc. 1927; Wendorf, acq. 2001 and 2004; EEF, acq. 1890, acq. 1902; Hogarth, acq. 1907; Petrie, acq. 1888, acq. 1935 and acq. 1994); Gebel Kibli; Gebelein (Maspero, acq. 1885); Gebel Kibli; Girga; Girza; Giza (Covington, acq. 1910; Petrie, acq. 1897); Gilf Kebir (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Great Sand Sea (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Gumaiyima (EEF, acq. 1887; Petrie, acq. 1887); Hammamiya (BSAE, acq. 1924); Hawara (EEF, acq. 1890; Petrie, acq. 1888, acq 1890, acq. 1912, acq. 1935, acq. 1958, acq. 1994); Hezab; el-Hiba; el-Hissaya (Garstang, acq. 1905); Hu (inc. EEF, acq. 1899); Ihnasya el-Medina (EEF, acq. 1979; Petrie, acq. 1904); El Kab (EES, acq. 1976); Kalabsha; Kamoula; Khallaf; el-Kharga; Kharga Oasis (Wendorf, acq. 2001); el-Khatana; Khizam; Kom Abu Billo; Kom Afrin; Kom el-Ahmar (Emery, acq. 1971; Garstang, acq. 1905 and acq. 1982); Kom Aushim (Rubaiyat); Kom el-Dahab; Kom Faris; Kom el-Kharaba el-Kebir; Gurob (Petrie, 1890; Petrie, acq. 1912, acq. 1923 [not clear if these might be from the 1890 excav.]); Kom Ombo; Kum Zimran; el-Lahun (EEF [Petrie], acq. 1890, acq. 1912, acq. 1926); Medamud; el-Mahalla; Mahasna; Meydum (Petrie, inc. acq. 1897; University of Colorado Museum, 1962-66, acq 2004); Makattam; el-Kubra; Lahun (EEF, acq. 1890); Lisht; el-Mabda; el-Maharraqa; Manfalut; Matariya (EES, acq. 1923-4, acq. 1926-27; Hekekyan, acq. 1861); Matmar (Brunton, acq. 1930-2); Medinet el-Fayum (Petrie, acq. 1937); Medinet Habu; Meir; Memphis (BSAE [Petrie], acq. 1910; BSAE, acq. 1979 and acq. 1982); Emery, acq. 1971; Hekekyan, acq. 1861; Horner, acq. 1864); el-Minya; Mit Rahina (Hekekyan, acq. 1861); Mostagedda (Brunton, acq. 1926, acq. 1928-31, acq. 1953, acq. 1956); Nabta Playa (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Nag el-Ghabat; Naqada (Wendorf, acq. 2001; Brunton, acq. 1929-32, acq. 1991; EEF, acq. 1899; EES, acq. 1998; Maspero, acq. 1885; Petrie, acq. 1895 and acq. 1898); Naga el-Deir; Naucratis (EEF, inc. acq. 1885-6, acq. 1888, acq. 1965, acq. 1974, acq. 1888; Hogarth, acq. 1900; Petrie, inc. acq. 1885-6, acq. 1888, acq. 1890, Reisner, acq. 1922); Nazlet el-Shurafa; Philae; el-Qantara (EEF, acq. 1887); Qantir; Qasr Ibrim (EES, acq. 1965, acq. 1969 and acq. 1984; Emery, acq. 1961-1962); Qasr el-Sagha; el-Qasr Wa-l-Saiyad; Qaw el-Kebir (BSAE [Brunton], acq. 1923-1925, acq. 1929, acq. 1991; BSAE, acq. 1982 and acq. 1998); Qena (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Qift (Koptos, Coptos) (Petrie, inc. 1893-1894, acq. 1906 and acq. 1979); Qus; Ramleh; el-Rashid (Bouchard, acq. 1802); Rifa (BSAE, acq. 1907, acq. 1979, acq. 1982; Loftus, acq. 1856); Sa el-Hagar (Sais); San el-Hagar (EEF, acq. 1884-5, acq. 1887; Mariette, acq. 1913; Petrie, acq. 1885 and acq. 1887; Reisner, acq. 1885); Salmiya; Samannud; Saqqara (EES [Emery], acq. 1969, acq. 1971, acq. 1973, acq. 1975; Petrie, acq. 1908, acq. 1937); Semaina; Serabit el-Khadim (Naville and Hall, acq. 1905; MacDonald, acq. 1849); Sheikh Hamadeh; Shibin el-Qanatir; el-Sheikh Ibada (Antino); Sedment (Petrie, acq. 1923); Sinai; Sohag; Tarkhan (BSAE, acq. 1912; Petrie, acq. 1956); Tell Atrib (BSAE, acq. 1982; EEF, acq. 1888; Petrie, acq. 1908); Tell Basta (EEF, acq. 1885 and acq. 1889); Defenneh (Petrie, acq. 1886-7; Reisner, acq. 1887); Tell el-Farain (EES, acq. 1984; Emery, acq. 1971); Tell Jaiff; Tell el-Maskhuta; Tell el-Muqdam (Reisner, acq. 1885); Nebesheh (EEF, acq. 1887; Petrie, acq. 1887); Tell el-Rataba; Tell el-Yahudiya (BSAE, acq. 1979, acq. 1982; EEF, acq. 1887-8; University of Colorado, 1962-6); Tell Zuwelein (EEF [Petrie], acq. 1887; Thebes (BSAE, acq. 1929; EES, acq. 1922; Lawson, acq. 1889; MMOA, New York, acq. 2000; Petrie, acq. 1896; also Asasif; Deir el Bahari [Carter, acq. 1904; EEF, 1895-98, 1903-07, also acq. 1923, acq. 1926-7, acq. 1979; MMOA, New York, acq. 1949]; Deir el-Medina; Dra Abu el-Naga; Karnak [Benson, Gourlay, 1897, acq. 1973]; Luxor [Emery, acq. 1971; Hogarth, acq. 1907; Reisner, acq. 1922]; Malkata; Medinet Habu; Qurna; Ramesseum [Quibell, acq. 1902 and acq. 1956]; Sheikh Abd el-Qurna; Valley of the Kings, tombs of Amenhotep III [inc. purchase from Salt, 1821; acq. 1907; Carter, acq. 1988], Sety I, Siptah, Ramses V, Ramses VI, Ramses VIII); Toshka (Wendorf, 2002); Tukh el-Qaramus; Tuna el-Gebel; Tura; Umm el-Qaab (Hall, Naville, Peet, acq. 1910); Wadi Faran (MacDonald, 1858); Wadi Maghara (MacDonald, acq. 1863); Wadi Qubbaniya (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Wadi Sarga (Byzantine Research Account, 1919; Byzantine Research and Publication Fund, 1914-5); Wadi Tafa; Zaqazig (EEF, acq. 1890); Zaraby (BSAE, acq. 1979); Objects are known to have come from the following locations in Sudan(with the name of the excavator/sponsor and year of excavation given where possible): Abu Geili; Amara (inc. EES, 1948-9); Argin; Begrawiya (Garstang, acq. 1939); Buhen (inc. EES [Emery], acq. 1958-9; EES, acq. 1964-5, acq. 1968); Butana (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Debeira (Scandinavian Joint Expedition to Nubia, acq. 1991); Dongola reach (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Dungul oasis (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Erbenarti (Adams, acq. 2005); Faras (EEF, acq. 1912; Oxford University, acq. 1912); Fourth Cataract region; Gabati; Gebeit Mine; Gebel Barkal; Gebel Moya (excavator unknown, 1911, acq. 1998; Wellcome, acq. 1946); Gebel Sahaba (Wendorf, acq. 2002); Kawa (Reisner, acq. 1922; Griffith, inc. acq. 1931-3); Kerma (Griffith, acq. 1932; Reisner, acq. 1922, acq. 1955); Khartoum (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Kulubnarti; el-Kurru (Reisner, acq. 1922); Mahal; Sedeinga; Teglinos; Napata; Nuri (Reisner, acq. 1922); Sanam (Oxford University [Griffith], acq. 1926); Saqadi; Semna (The excavations were conducted by the University of Colorado Museum Expedition to Sudanese Nubia, 1962-1966); Serra; Sesebi (EES, 1936-7); Soba East; Wadi Halfa (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Wadi Lakia (Wendorf, acq. 2001). Elsewhere Adan; Amran; Amrit; Arabia; Ashkelon; Axum; Baghdad; Beirut; Beit Nabala; Bengemmi; Benghazi; Beth-Zur; Bethlehem; Byblos; Caesarea; Carchemish; Carthage; Cyprus; Cyrene; Dundrum; Edirne; Ethiopia (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Gaza; Gerar river; Hagar Qim; Haram esh-Shereef; Iraq; Istanbul; Jaffa; Jenin; Jericho; Jerusalem; Kamiros; Khalet es-Shakif; Kirmanshah; Krendi; Lebanon; Leucas; Levant (EES, acq. 1992; EES [Pendlebury], acq. 1992; Garstang, acq. 1905; Hogarth, acq. 1907; Mariette, acq. 1904); Libya; Malta; Marathus; Meroe (Garstang, acq. 1910); Nablus; Nimrud; Nineveh; Ophel; Palestine; Palmyra; Phoenicia; Rhodes; Rome (EEF, acq. 1885; Emery, acq. 1971); Samaria; Sidon; Smyrna; Tarsus; TartÔs; Tell AbuÂ’l-Falus; Tripoli; Twickenham; Tyre; Warka; Zefat The Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at The British Museum houses an important collection of objects which illustrate every aspect of the cultures of the Nile Valley, from the Neolithic period (c. 10 000 BC) until Coptic (Christian) times (12th century AD).

  Paul Hamlyn Library

  The Paul Hamlyn Library, the public reference library in the restored Reading Room, is open to everyone who visits the Museum. Funded by The Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the library aims to help visitors find out more about the Museum’s collections and the cultures represented here. The subject-matter is very wide-ranging, including archaeology, history, art, architecture and much more, and there is a substantial and developing children’s section. The online catalogue can be consulted at terminals in the Reading Room, Books may not be borrowed from the Library but are always available for reference during opening hours.

  Subjects

  Visual arts; Art; Classical studies; Anthropology; History; Architecture; Archaeology

  Anthropology Library Collection

  The Anthropology Library is now part of the new Centre for Anthropology. The library is one of the world’s major specialist anthropological collections with its origins in the nineteenth century; its holdings were greatly enhanced by the gift of the Royal Anthropological Institute Library to the Ethnography Department Library in 1976. Today the library contains around 120,000 books and pamphlets and 4,000 journal titles (of which about 1,500 are current), in addition to microfiches, microfilms, maps, newsletters, sound recordings and congress reports. There is also an important collection of photographs and other pictorial material. The literature held covers every aspect of anthropology: cultural and social anthropology with a strong emphasis on material culture and art, archaeology, some biological and medical anthropology and linguistics, together with such related fields as history, sociology and description and travel.

  Subjects

  Anthropology; Archaeology; Ethnology

  Museum Archives

  The Archives of the British Museum consist of the administrative records of the Museum’s Trustees and Directors which have been selected for permanent preservation for their evidential, administrative or research value. These are public records, date from the Museum’s foundation in 1753 to the present day and illuminate every aspect of the Museum’s official activities including the meetings of its Trustees, its acquisitions, administration, finance, buildings, staff, exhibitions, publications and excavations. Archival material acquired through donation or purchase, and relevant to the history of the Museum and its activities, is also held here. This wide-ranging archive is also a rich visual resource and includes sketches, architectural plans and drawings, scrapbooks, press cuttings and photographs. Documentation relating to the history of the British Museum is also held by the British Library. This includes the records of the former British Museum Library departments (prior to the establishment of the British Library in 1973) and collections within the Department of Manuscripts. However, pre-1973 Reading Room records are held by the British Museum. The records of the Office of Works and its successors relating to the development of the British Museum building are held at the Public Record Office at Kew. The Museum Archives section also has responsibility for museum-wide records management under the Head of Archives and Departmental Record Officer. The Museum’s curatorial and administrative departments retain their own records. These are also public records but, as yet, do not have archival status.

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC