British Museum

‘Lines in the Ice: Seeking the Northwest Passage’ is a new exhibition opening at the British Library on November 14 that looks at 400 years of Arctic exploration.

With the British Museum’s Vikings exhibition bringing in the crowds, it is an ideal time for its Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo treasures to come back into focus in a new gallery.

ATG Editor-in-Chief Mark Bridge presents Fabio Rossi of Rossi & Rossi with the Asian Art in London 2D Art Award at the ceremony at the British Museum on Tuesday, November 6.

FUNDING for the Portable Antiquities Scheme is to be cut by 15 per cent in real terms over the next four years, with the biggest impact likely to be on staff costs.

THE British Museum have credited the Treasure Act – which ensures treasure hunters are compensated for finds – for the significant increase in reported objects.

AN historic and important medieval scientific instrument, known as the Canterbury Quadrant, has been saved for the nation. St James’s specialist dealers Trevor Philip and Sons have sold the quadrant to the British Museum for £411,250.

THE British Museum were credited with uncovering the fraud that led to the jailing of serial faker Shaun Greenhalgh two weeks ago, while auction houses and the trade were criticised for selling his work.

A FUNDING crisis means the Percival David Foundation collection of Chinese ceramics will move from the University of London’s School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS) to the British Museum.

Asian Art in London celebrates its tenth anniversary from November 1 to 10 and as part of the anniversary celebrations will join with the British Museum to hold a Study Day around the exhibition The First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Army on November 10. Tickets for the day cost £22 (contact 0207 323 8181).

HERITAGE grants have helped the British Museum acquire the 15th century illuminated manuscript known as the Wardington Hours.

EBay (UK) have given permission for members of the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme to monitor the trade in antiquities on the website.

A NEW code of conduct has been agreed to offer standard guidelines for locating and unearthing treasure trove.

A LOOPHOLE in the export law has forced the British Museum to pay almost £100,000 more than the original auction price for the most expensive British coin ever sold. The museum believes the case highlights the need for Britain’s laws on exporting art to be reconsidered.

POLICE investigating the theft of Tang and Yuan dynasty jewellery and body ornaments from the British Museum on October 29-30 believe the raid could be linked to the theft of Chinese jades from the Victoria and Albert Museum earlier last month.

Badges by Philip Atwood, published by the British Museum Press. ISBN 0714150142 £7.99sb AMONG the British Museum’s priceless antiquities is the museum’s collection of some 12,000 badges. A small, hard-to-find exhibition, showing at the museum until January 16, presents just a tiny fraction of this archive.

Aurel Stein on the Silk Road, by Susan Whitfield, published by the British Museum Press. ISBN 0714124168 £18.99hb SIR Marc Aurel Stein, the 19th century Hungarian-born explorer, adventurer and archaeologist, sent home more than 40,000 cultural treasures from the wilds of Western China, making eight major expeditions along the Silk Road nearly a century ago and following in the footsteps of Alexander the Great and the 7th century Buddhist pilgrim monk Xuanzang.

ALEXANDER Walker, who died last year at the age of 73, was the film critic of London’s Evening Standard for more than 40 years and among the well-known names in the film world. Not so well known is that he was a noted collector of modern art.

TOWARDS the end of March it was reported that The British Museum and the V&A had joined forces for the first time to acquire a rare Indian 7th century metal statue of a standing figure of the Buddha Sakyamuni, the first to enter a public European collection. After a tour of provincial museums it will be shown alternatively at the two institutions.

“COINS transmit the image of a ruler far more widely than any other medium available before photography.” Thus the blurb trumpeting the exhibition in the British Museum of portraits on coins.

2004 is shaping up well for arts publishing, and publishers of books which cover the genre also reported excellent sales last year, particularly in the run-up to Christmas. Here, the Antiques Trade Gazette takes a look at some of the books on offer this year, many of which will be reviewed.