Collection: Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Archaeology Collection

  The Bomford collection of ancient glass is a large and remarkable collection of mainly Roman glass. The British archaeology collections are strong across all periods and include material from over 3,000 sites. They are especially strong on material from the south west. From the prehistoric collection, notable material includes the bronze age urns from the Deverel barrow, one of the two type sites for the middle bronze age Deverell Rimbury culture in southern England. Romano British material is well represented and includes many early and important acquisitions such as a fragment of the Orpheus mosaic at Withington found in 1825; the Brislington coin hoard found in 1829; and lead-mining material from Charterhouse-on-Mendip found in 1839. There are finds from Gatcombe and Kings Weston Roman villas and other sites such as Nettleton Shrub, Camerton, Chew Valley Lake and Sea Mills. The medieval and post-medieval collections include type forms of Ham Green and Redcliffe pottery; as well as large amounts of waste material from Bristol delftware kilns. There are also important reference collections of Bristol clay tobacco pipes and medieval floor tiles. Individual artefacts of great significance include rare imported pottery such as early Ligurian tin-glazed wares; a Saxon blue glass jar from Pagan’s Hill; and a Jewish Sabbath lamp excavated at Peter St, Bristol. An unusual collection, but one of international importance, is the Dr H A Fawcett collection of typology. It comprises 7514 items, mainly stone and bronze, from worldwide provenances, collected to illustrate the typological development of tools, weapons and items of person adornment from the palaeolithic period to the Anglo-Saxon period. Foreign archaeological material in the collections includes important Egyptian, Mediterranean and Near Eastern antiquities. The Ancient Egyptian collection comprises some 10,000 artefacts and includes much material from controlled excavations, including those of Sir William Flinders Petrie in the early 20th century.

  Subjects

  Archaeology

  Ancient Egyptian Collection

  The museum holds 8,000-10,000 ancient Egyptian objects which are part of the Archaeology collection. Classes of objects represented in the collection include: amulets; canopic boxes; canopic jars; coffins; faience figures; faience vessels; flints; foundation deposits; furniture; glass vessels; jewellery; metal figures; metal vessels; animal remains (mummies); human remains (mummies); offering tables; ostraca; papyri; pottery; ‘Ptah-Sokar-Osiris’ figures; relief sculpture; scarabs; cosmetic palettes; shabtis; shabti boxes; soul house; stelae; stone figures; stone vessels; textiles; toilet articles; tomb models; tools/weapons; wooden figures; other. The collection also includes squeezes, casts (mainly British Museum); Belzoni water colours, tomb of Sety I; notebook of Sarah Belzoni; W. M. F. Petrie lantern slides; aerial photographs (RAF). 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): Abadiyeh (Petrie – EEF, 1899); Abydos (EEF, 1900-1903; Peet and Naville – EEF, 1909-1910; Frankfort – EEF, 1926); Amarna (Newton and Griffith – EES, 1923-1925; Frankfort and Pendlebury – EES, 1926-1929); El Amrah (MacIver and Wilkins – EEF, 1901); Oxyrhynchus (Grenfell and Hunt – EEF, 1903-1906); Deir el-Bahari (Naville et al. – EEF, 1903-1911); Dendereh (Petrie and Mace – EEF, 1898); Gemayemi (Griffith and Petrie – EEF, 1886-1887); Gerzeh (Petrie et al. – BSAE, 1910-1911); Gizeh (Petrie – BSAE, 1906-1907); Harageh (Engelbach – BSAE, 1913-1914); Hawara (Petrie et al. – BSAE, 1910-1911); Ehnasya (Petrie – EEF, 1904); Kafr Ammar (Petrie – BSAE, 1912-1913); Hu (Petrie and Mace – EEF, 1898-1899); Lahun (Petrie et al. – BSAE, 1913-1914); Mahasna (Ayrton and Loat – EEF, 1908-1909); Mazghuneh (Petrie et al. – BSAE, 1910-1911); Memphis (Petrie and Mackay – BSAE, 1908-1910); Meydum (Petrie et al. – BSAE, 1909-1910); Naucratis (Petrie and Griffith – EEF, 1884-1886); Shurafa (Engelbach and Petrie – BSAE, 1911-1912); Antaeopolis (Petrie et al. – BSAE, 1923-1924); Rifeh (Petrie and Mackay – BSAE, 1906-1907); Riqqeh (Engelbach et al. – BSAE, 1912-1913); Saft el-Henna (Duncan et al. – BSAE, 1905-1906); Saqqareh (Smith and Martin – EES, 1971, 1984); Tanis (Petrie – EEF, 1884-1885); Serabit el Khadim (Petrie – BSAE, 1905-1906; EEF/ERA, 1905-1906); el-Sheikh Ibada (Johnson – EEF, 1913-1914); Sedment (EEF, 1910; Petrie and Brunton -BSAE 1920-1921); Tarkhan (Petrie et al. – BSAE, 1912-1913); Tarraneh (Griffith – EEF, 1887-1888); Athribis (Petrie – BSAE, 1907); Bubastis (Naville et al. – EEF, 1887-1889); Defenna (Petrie and Griffith – EEF, 1886-7); Heliopolis (Petrie – BSAE, 1911-1912); Nebesheh (Petrie and Griffith – EEF, 1886-1887); Tell el-Yahudiya (Petrie et al. – BSAE, 1906; EEF, 1884; Naville and Griffith- EEF, 1887-1888).

  Subjects

  Antiquities; Ancient civilizations; Antiquity; Archaeological sites; Archaeological objects; Egyptology; Archaeological excavations

  Medals Collection

  There are commemorative medals struck for Bristol events and people; and civilian and service awards to Bristolians and the Glosters.

  Subjects

  Medals

  Numismatics Collection

  This large collection includes Bristol mint coins and coins and tokens from excavations.

  Subjects

  Numismatics

  Photographic Collection

  There is a substantial collection of photographs of Bristol and its hinterland, of local events and of local personalities.

  Subjects

  Photographic equipment

  Costume and Textile Collection

  The textile collection is chiefly comprised of around 200 samplers.

  Subjects

  Costume and Textile

  Fine Art Collection

  As well as the remarkable topographical collection which is a major strength, there are other exceptional examples of fine art in the collection including: the Withypool Altarpiece, Virgin and Child with St Joseph and Donor by Antonio da Solario, c.1500; and the Hogarth Altarpiece from St Mary’s Redcliffe, Bristol, 1755-56. There are many fine examples of work by eminent artists of both English and European schools. There is material from the French school; old masters from the Italian and Dutch schools, with some Flemish and German paintings. The British collection is particularly strong in 20th century work. The Bristol school is well represented in the collection by works by, for example, Francis Danby (1793-1861); Samuel Colman; and E V Rippingille. There is also work by William James Muller (1812-1845), the best known Bristol-born artist. There is also a collection of sculptures by Rysbrack, including a recently identified bust of Edward Colston. There is a remarkable collection of almost 1500 watercolours and drawings commissioned by the Bristol antiquarian George Weare Braikenridge in the 1820s of Bristol scenes, as well as a further 3,500 topographical illustrations. No other city outside London has such an important early record of its streets and buildings. There is a particularly fine group illustrating the garden of a Georgian town house.

  Subjects

  Watercolours; Paintings; Fine Art; Prints; Drawings

  Decorative and Applied Art Collection

  This is the largest collection of English delftware in the country, comprising some 850 pieces, plus 1000 tiles. Individual pieces of particular significance include one of only two known inkstands; a large, dated Charles II charger; a second, unsigned, version of the signed Joseph Flower bowl in the Ashmolean Museum; and a ‘Hen-and-Chicks’ bowl. On long term loan is the ‘Penn’ bowl, probably the largest piece of delft to survive from the 18th century and a superb example of the potter’s skill. During the 18th century the greatest influence on delft was Chinese porcelain, resulting in many slightly altered and adapted Chinese patterns. In this context, of paramount importance is Bristol’s Hen and Chicks bowl, being the only known example of a British ceramic which was copied in Chinese porcelain and therefore uniquely contributing to international understanding of the two-way trade. The collection of delftware tiles includes pieces by Richard Frank of Bristol, described as masterpieces of the tile-maker’s art. The collection of English delftware is large and comprehensive. The majority of the collection was given to the museum in three bequests from Theodore Charbonnier, Sir Gilbert Mellor and Joseph Stone Hodges. The collection of Eastern Art and Culture is of international significance and is the largest municipally-owned collection in the country. The foundation for the excellence of this collection was laid by the bequest in 1946 by the brothers Ferdinand and Max Schiller of their rich collection of jades, bronzes, ceramics, furniture and textiles. This collection has been supplemented by the addition of significant material over the last 50 years. The ceramics is the most important aspect of the Schiller collection, ranging from the early Chinese earthenware tomb figures, through examples of Tz’u-chou wares, to the later Ming and Ching wares. Sung dynasty (AD 960-1279) wares are well represented; there are some exceptionally fine specimens of early celadon wares from Lung Chu’uan and decorated white wares from Ting Chou. The collection is especially strong in its temmoku bowls, especially in figured bowls, and a type of Sung ware known as Ying Ch’ing or misty blue ware. There is also a fine collection of some 290 pieces of Chinese glass bequeathed by H R Burrows-Abbey in 1950. Other pieces have been added. The majority of the glass collection is from the Qing (Manchu) dynasty (1644-1912), but includes important early pieces going back to the second or third century AD, and an unusually high proportion of 17th century wares. This is believed to be the largest collection of Chinese glass tableware outside China. Later Imperial wares includes Chinese porcelain of the 17th and 18th centuries; the cinquefoil silver and gold dish from the T’ang dynasty, an exceptional specimen of Chinese metalcraft; and a large burgautee screen of about 1700 completely decorated in mother of pearl on black lacquer, inscribed by its maker. There is a small but significant collection of Chinese export, especially polychrome and blue and white wares, which provides the bridge between the Eastern Art collections and Western markets. A porcelain jardiniere is especially significant, being the earliest recorded piece of armorial porcelain with British arms. Complementing the Chinese ceramics and glass collections are significant collections of Chinese painting, prints and costume; Japanese painting, prints, metalwork and netsuke; and Indian painting, sculpture and costume. Notable pieces include a find example of a gouache watercolour drawing produced in Canton c.1800 and depicting glass-blowing; and a porcelain pen case, enamelled with silver mounts, c.1750, and a rare Chinese export ware for the Indian market. The Western collections include pottery, porcelain, glass, silver and other metalwork, jewellery, furniture, ivories and lacquer. English delftware is a major strength of the museum’s collections. Soft-paste and hard-paste porcelain manufactured in Bristol in the 18th century is well represented. British 18th century glass, including Bristol glass; the J M Bacon collection; the Peter Lazarus collection of drinking glasses; and a fine collection of French paperweights are also notable. The silver collection includes examples of rare Bristol-marked silver and the important St Werburgh plate purchased in 1995. Two specialist collections of great significance are the Ernest Blatch bequest of European lacquered boxes and the DMW Bullock bequest of micro-carved ivories. Furniture of 17th to 20th century date includes some important pieces. There is an extremely rich collection of civic treasures including rare medieval ceremonial swords, reflecting Bristol’s unique status as a county dating back to 1373. The Eastern collection of art and culture is of international importance and is a major strength of the collection. There is a collection of furniture dating from the 17th to 20th centuries, including some important period pieces. Much of this aspect of the collection is located in the period houses owned by Bristol Museums and Art Gallery at Red Lodge and the Georgian House.

  Subjects

  Ceramics; Metalwork; Watercolours; Furniture; Sculpture; Costume and Textile; Paintings; Decorative and Applied Arts; Glass; Fine Art; Prints

  Biology Collection

  The strong regional collections of mammals, birds, insects and plants contribute to the understanding of the biodiversity and ecology of the south west. Substantial collections of specimens both from Britain and overseas exist in the following categories: insects; shells; vascular and non vascular plants; birds; birds eggs; and mammals. Particularly notable specimens in zoology include: a Tasmanian wolf; two eggs of the Great Auk; an Elephant Bird egg; rare mounted birds such as the Carolina parakeet, Eskimo curlew; passenger pigeon; ivory-billed woodpecker; and Bahamas parrot. Also Burchell’s zebra; gorilla skulls; insect collections such as S Barton’s 19th century buprestid beetles including type specimens; butterflies and moths; beetles; and flies. In the discipline of Botany, there is the Broughton herbarium of late 18th century Bristol and early 19th century Jamaican specimens; George Swayne’s ‘Gramina pascua’, a 1790 book illustrated by preserved dried grasses; and Capt John Leonard Knapp’s ‘Gramina Britannica’ of 1804, supported by an 1824 herbarium of grasses including several species which were newly described by him.

  Subjects

  Biology

  Geology Collection

  Bristol’s geological collection is the most significant collection outside the national museum. In addition, the origins of the collection are so closely associated with the evolution of geology that they have a special significance to the history of the science. The area around Bristol and Bath has been called ‘the cradle of English geology’ and it was here that William Smith and his collaborators discovered the basic priniciples of the succession of the strata and, by relating them to the fossils they contain, extended what they had learnt to map the whole country. There are many important aspects to the collection. The collections include approximately 700 recognised type, figured and cited specimens, some of them dating back to seminal monographs of the early 19th century. The Tortworth Inlier provides an important window into Lower Palaeozoic rocks through later strata and the museum holds fossils, especially trilobites. The collection has material from the Carboniferous Limestone of the Avon Gorge and the Mendip Hills, including type specimens of fishes that were figured and described by L Agassiz in the 1830s. The Bristol and Somerset Coalfield is known for its fossil plants and recent collecting at Lower Writhlington Colliery has widened international knowledge of coal measures insect, spider and other arthropod fauna. The museum’s collection may be the largest collection in the world of some groups. The museum’s collection contains significant remains of vertebrate fauna from the Late Triassic exposures along the shores of the lower river Severn, including the ‘Bristol dinasaur’ (Thecodontosaurus); and bones of the little-known large dinosaur Camelotia. Earlier Triassic vertebrate remains are represented by specimens from South Devon, Cheshire, Germany and the USA. Early work by W D Conybeare and H T De la Beche on Jurassic marine reptiles preserved from the collections of the Bristol Institution is well represented. Though much was destroyed in 1940, important specimens collected in the 1780s to 1800s still remain in the museum, including an ichthyosaurus. Since 1980, some internationally significant reptile skeletons have been acquired including: two large Pliosaurus skulls and the skull of the marine crocodile Metriorhynchus from Wiltshire; holotypes of the ichthyosaurs Leptonectes solei and Excalibosaurus costini; the most complete Grendelius skeleton; an ichthyosaur bearing the earliest stage in the growth of an unborn infant; an almost complete juvenile Plesiosaurus; and a juvenile of the dinosaur Scelidosaurus that preserves parts otherwise unknown, including its skin (from Somerset and Dorset). There is a large collection of Jurassic invertebrates, largely from the richly-fossiliferous rocks of the Cotswolds and elsewhere in the south west of England. There are Pleistocene bones from caves in Bristol and important cave sites in the Mendip Hills and south Devon. There is also material from South Wales, Yorkshire and from Germany. Minerals in the collection include lead and manganese minerals, some of them rare specimens collected by A W G Kingsbury and others from Bristol and the Mendips; and extensive collections from Devon and Cornwall, notably those collected by T and C R Trelease and B V Cooper.

  Subjects

  Reptiles; Fossils; Plants; Geology; Fish; Minerals; Insects

  Ethnography Collection

  The ethnography collection includes some 8000 items dating from the 18th to the late 20th centuries. Major areas represented are: West Africa; Central Africa; North America; Central America; and the Pacific. Of special note are early pieces such as the Goldwyer collection which includes early American and Indian material; the Stewart collection of mainly Hudson’s Bay material; Maori wood carvings; Arawak pottery; and Fijian necklaces. Also rare pieces such as the ‘Stutchbury bird’, a wood carving of otherwise unknown type and use from the Pacific; and the tortoiseshell mask from the Torres Straits, used in funerary rites. There are also groups of common domestic items rarely collected such as the missionary collections from the Congo. There are several important individual collections, one outstanding example is the archive of paintings produced by the Victorian traveller Adela Breton. Its importance lies in the exact copies of wall paintings of Mexican temples, where the originals are now obliterated.

  Subjects

  Ethnography

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC