Treasures of the British Museum

by Marjorie Caygill

The British Museum is the most magnificent tresure-house in the world. The wealth and range of its collections is unequalled by any other national museum. The Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles, Egyptian mummies, Boticelli and Michelangelo drawings, Assyrian reliefs, the Lewis Chessmen and the Sutton Hoo Treasure are all to be found here. In this superb book Marjorie Caygill reveals and delights in the intriguing stories behind these treasures and many more.

Illustrated with 145 colour and 150 black and white photographs, this is both a valuable record of a unique institution and a fascinating keepsake for visitors.

Contents

Preface
Introduction by the Director, Sir David Wilson

TREASURE
1. Treaure trove
2. The treasure of the river Oxus
3. Turquoise mosaics from the Aztec Empire

BURIED CIVILIZATIONS
4. Amelia Edwards and the Egypt Exploration Society
5. Excavations at Nimrod
6. The Rosetta Stone and the decipherment of hieroglyphs
7. The fourth-century Hinton St Mary mosaic pavement

SCULPTURE
8. The bust of Ramesses the Great and Giovanni Belzoni
9. The Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal
10. The Townley Collection of classical sculpture
11. "Hindoo" Stuart and the bridge collection of Indian sculpture
12. The Bodhisattva Tara
13. Hoa-Haka-Nana-Ia ("Breaking Wave"): A statue from Easter Island
14. The "Roubiliac Shakespeare" and the actor David Garrick

VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY
15. Captain James Cook

TEMPLES AND TOMBS
16. Death in Egypt
17. The discovery of the Royal Cemetery at Ur
18. Canon Greenwell and the "Folkton Drums"
19. The Rillaton Gold Cup
20. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus: One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
21. Lord Elgin and the sculptures of the Parthenon
22. The monument of Julius Classicianus, Procurator of Britain
23. The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial

POTTERY AND PORCELAIN
24. The Godman Collection of Islamic Pottery
25. The Addis Gift of Chinese Pottery
26. The Cleopatra Vases

THE ART OF THE CRAFTSMAN
27. The Portland Vase
28. The Hull Grundy Gift of Jewellery
29. The twelfth-century Lewis Chessmen
30. Clocks and watches
31. The Malborough Gold Ice Pails
32. Mrs. Delany´s Flower Mosaics

THE COLLECTIONG PASSION
33. Sir Hans Sloane: Founder of the British Museum
34. The retiring collector: The Reverend Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode
35. John Malcolm of Poltalloch: Collector of Old Master Drawings
36. Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks: Victorian Polymath
37. Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild and the Waddesdon Bequest

The departments of the museum and their collections
The history of the British Museum
Photographic acknowledgements
Bibliography
Index

Genres: History, Art, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Marjorie L. Caygill was a curator who joined the British Museum in 1973 as Research Assistant, Secretariat. Assistant to the Director 1978. Retired October 2004 and 2008 Fellow of the Centre for Anthropology.

Reviews

[Alejandro Teruel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book includes some fine photographs, although nowadays one would prefer a higher proportion of colour photographs.

The emphasis of the book is on how the most important and, in some sense, the most popular items of the collection came to be acquired by the museum paying particular attention to the more colourful individuals who funded the expeditions or acquisitions, found the items or donated them to the museum.

The text of some of the chapters can be very brief, as is the case with the ninth chapter, Nineveh -the Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal, which is included in full to give an idea of the tenor of the less inspired writing included in the book:

After Layard´s departure from Mesopotamia his assitant Hormuzd Rassam (1825-1910) continued to excavate at Nineveh and elsewhere under the direction of Henry Rawlinson. In December 1853 on the northern side of the mound of Kuyunjik he found the North Palace of Ashurbanipal built c. 645 BC. There he discovered perhaps the finest animal scenes of antiquity, the bas reliefs showing the lion hunt of Ashurbanipal. Here we see Ashurbanipal with his retinue setting out for the hunting field, horses snorting and pricking their ears. Captive lions and lionesses are released from wooden cages and, enraged by the baying of hounds held on the leash, they rush out only to meet a bloody death at the hands of the king. We cannot now know what was foremost in the mind of Ashurbanipal´s sculptor of undoubted genius. Was it the glorification of the king or, as one writer has suggested, ´a sympathy for the suffering beasts, so uselessly brave, roaring and defiant or twitching in agony of death.

[Hannah Spaar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love museum guides. I really do. But this one seemed to discredit itself by glossing over the museum’s acquisitions practices. While it’s tricky to acknowledge and move on, the defense aspect constantly left me wondering. I also could have done with some instruction on how best to view the galleries, as on my visit I was totally overwhelmed.

[Mark Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautifully illustrated volume covers a sampling of many areas and objects of the British Museum. The fifty chapters include not only wonderful photos of many objects, but also informative histories, including biographical information of the donors and providers of the objects. A great intro and description of just a few of the huge number of treasures in the Museum. Great read!

[Andrew Ives · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely interesting book, well-written, and one which must have taken forever to research all the details. I particularly enjoyed the backstories of where the objects were found and how they made their way to the museum over the centuries, as well as the detailed descriptions of their origins, what they and how they were made.

If I had improve this book, and I'm nitpicking a little here, I would slightly change the choice of photographs. e.g. There is no photograph of the round reading room which is a criminal omission and some photos are in b&w when they really ought to be in colour. The text occasionally exudes a little too much enthusiasm a little too often for the museum, but I can forgive Caygill for being understandably proud of a remarkable institution. 4.5/5

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

During my visit to the British Museum, I picked up this book to help me remember the sights I had experienced. I appreciate having it to refer back to, and I highly recommend picking up books as souvenirs when traveling.

[Cathy Isaak I · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good place to start