Collection: Durham University Oriental Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Archaeology

  The Museum was founded on the collection of Egyptian antiquities formed by the 4th Duke of Northumberland in the mid 19th century and acquired by the University in 1950. Mainly small objects of high quality including statuary, stone vessels and amulets and jewellery in faience, glass and metal and a comprehensive range of funerary stelae, enlarged by addition of items from the Wellcome Foundation and recent excavations at Saqqara, Qasr Ibrim and Buhen. The ancient Near East is represented by excavated material from Jerusalem, Jericho, Lachish, Ur and Nimrud and two reliefs, probably from Nineveh and a large collection of seals.

  Ancient Egyptian and Sudanese Collection

  The museum holds 6,724 ancient objects, mostly from Egypt but with some from Sudan, which are part of the Archaeology collection. Classes of objects represented in the collection include: amulets; basketry/ropes; canopic jars; coffins; faience figures; faience vessels; flints; food/plant material; funerary cones; 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; stelae (stone); stone figures; stone vessels; textiles/leather; toilet articles; tools/weapons; wall paintings; wooden figures. 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): Qasr Ibrim (Emery – Egypt Exploration Society, 1961); Saqqarah (Emery – Egypt Exploration Society, 1970-1972). Objects are known to have come from the following location in Sudan (with the name of the excavator/sponsor and year of excavation given): Buhen (Emery – Egypt Exploration Society, 1959-1964).

  Subjects

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

  Ethnography

  There is a substantial textile collection from China, Borneo, Middle East, India, South America and Eastern Europe; weapons especially the Wilfred Dodds collection; contemporary domestic items from China especially the Milne Collection; Korea the Bishop Rutt collection, writing materials, Indian, Burmese and Persian domestic laquerwork and recent religious items. Wilfred Dodds, a technician in Archaeology at the University, bequeathed military material and non oriental items were transferred to the Hancock, Dorman and Bowes Museums.

  Fine and Decorative

  The Japanese collection consists largely of prints, including works by most of the leading artists, and netsuke, inro and a small group of weapons and armour. The weapons are from the William Dodds bequest. The Tibet collection has representative thankgkas, figures of gods, and other religious and secular artefacts. The MacDonald collection of Chinese ceramics is internationally important. Korean Koryo dynasty (918-1392) celadon wares with inlaid decoration. Burmese, Cambodian and Thai art is dominated by Buddhism and the collection has a number of Buddhist artefacts and sculptures. Thailand and Vietnam are represented by a collection of trade wares found in Indonesia and recently given to the Museum. The Indian collection contains examples of Buddhist figures, stonework from Gandhara and artefacts from other religions, mainly but not exclusively Hindu. There are weapons, jade vessels, miniature paintings and other fine craftwork from the Moghul period and a number of 19th century paintings of religious subjects. Small collection of Islamic art, mostly ceramics, but with some glass, metalwork, coins and a few examples of fine calligraphy and miniatures. Several of the miniatures and metalwork items are of Mughal origin, as are a number of fine quality jades ( Harding Collection).Also are modern Palestinian textiles and ethnographic items from the Tihama. Collection referred to in ‘Malcolm Macdonald Collection of Chinese ceramics’ by Ireneus Lasllo Legeza, London, 1972.

  Archives

  The Museum also holds a set of nearly 5000 photographs of archaeological sites and monuments, made between 1902-1935 by Sir John Marshall, Director General of Archaeology in India. Two volumes of the 60 volume set are devoted to sites in Burma.

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC