Publication of the proceedings of a conference held to mark the 150th anniversary of the British Museum's Department of Coins and Medals in 2011. The publication spells out ways forward for numismatic activity and the roles UK museums may play in developing the discipline in the 21st century.

The British Museum's collection of Japanese coins is one of the best outside Japan. Many of the coins were originally in the collection of Japan's renowned numismatist and collector, Kutsuki Masatsuna (1750-1802), and were acquired by the British Museum in the 1880s. At the same time as Kutsuki Masatsuna was building up his collection, European scholars were also visiting Japan, and paying particular attention to coins as they sought to gain knowledge and understanding. This is the first catalogue of the British Museum's collection of Japanese coins. Details of each coin are given in Japanese and English, along with colour illustrations. Joe Cribb is Research Keeper in the Department of Coins and Medals, the British Museum. Nobuhisa Furuta is Former Chief Researcher at the Institute for Oriental Currency, Sapporo. Peter Kornicki is Professor of East Asian Studies, University of Cambridge. Shin'ichi Sakuraki is Professor of Japanese History, Shimonoseki City University. Tim Screech is Professor in the History of Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Helen Wang is Curator of East Asian Money, the British Museum. She has published a catalogue of Chairman Mao badges in the Research Publications Series (no. 169).

The British Museum's holding of Greek Geometric pottery comprises 200 items, covering the period from the 10th to the 7th century BC. Most of these pieces have never been published before. The bulk of the collection - 123 pieces - is Attic, but eleven other regional styles are also represented. These include not only mainland Greek fabrics such as Argive, Boeotian, Corinthian and Laconian, but also the island fabrics of the Cyclades and Crete, as well as those of East Greece and Caria. The collection is particularly strong in Melian and Rhodian styles. A brief overview of each style precedes the detailed descriptions of the pieces, so that the book serves not only as a catalogue but also as an introduction to the major local fabrics of Early Iron Age Greece. Every piece is illustrated, many with multiple views and some with additional line drawings. This catalogue is British Museum Fascicule 11 in the Great Britain series of the international Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum.

Focusing on the differences and similarities between the renowned 'Alpais' Limoges ciborium, dated to c. 1200, in the Musée du Louvre, and examples in the British Museum, the National Museums of Scotland, together with two electrotype copies of the 'Alpais' ciborium in the Victoria and Albert Museum, this volume uses a cross-disciplinary approach, based on the differing specialisations of the authors (curators, scientists and conservators) to examine the group of ciboria. New and previously unpublished information, analyses and conclusions are presented that will serve to locate all the ciboria in their respective artistic and cultural context.

The field of Byzantine jewellery (4th-15th centuries) is a rapidly expanding one and a large amount of important research has been conducted within the last ten years, both by scholars on the continent and in America. The intention of the conference, and subsequently the volume, is to draw together the many strands involved in this research and to publish them in accessible form. This volume represents a rare opportunity to make this crucial work available to a much wider specialist and non-specialist audience in Britain (and beyond). In particular the topics to be addressed by foreign speakers are either not well-known in Britain or are published in largely inaccessible journals. Chris Entwistle has been the curator of the Late Roman and Byzantine Collections at the British Museum since 1985. Dr Nöel Adams is an independent scholar who has published widely on the metalwork and jewellery of the Early Middle Ages.

Cameo glass represents the ultimate achievement in Roman luxury glass, and the British Museum has the world's largest and finest collection. This comprises over seventy pieces, including two of only a dozen surviving complete cameo glass vessels: the celebrated Portland Vase, the greatest surviving example of Roman cameo glass, and the Auldjo Jug, each with its complex and intriguing history. The catalogue, begun by Veronica Tatton-Brown and William Gudenrath of the Corning Museum of Glass, has been revisited and enhanced by Paul Roberts of the British Museum and David Whitehouse and William Gudenrath of the Corning Museum of Glass. This publication presents the collection in its entirety for the first time. Each piece is illustrated in colour and line drawing, with full description and discussion. The book also presents the results of ground-breaking new research. The authors construct a comprehensive context, using archaeological, technological, iconographic and typological evidence to look at the origins of cameo glass and its place in contemporary Roman art and craftsmanship. They also propose a relative and absolute chronology for cameo glass, and suggest possible models for the organisation of the workshop(s) that produced it.

The British Museum's collection of South Indian paintings consists of around 1000 items ranging from the 17th to the 20th century and representing a wide variety of themes and techniques. Only a very few examples from this major collection have been published before. In this book the collection will be catalogued in full, and 250 of the most important items will be reproduced in colour. The paintings will be described and listed according to the their topics (Hindu mythology; castes, trades and occupations; natural history drawings; painted narratives; India observed) and according to the medium on which they were executed (paper, cloth, leather, mica). Each section will begin with a brief introduction outlining the essential stylistic and iconographic features. Among this material are a number of highly interesting albums such as a set of 91 paintings depicting Hindu mythology, dating from the early decades of the 19th century. More unusual items are the long painted scrolls from Andhra illustrating local mythological narratives, the painted cloths from Tamil Nadu depicting the Ramayana epic, and paintings on paper used by the storytellers of northern Karnataka.

The Hoxne treasure, a spectacular collection of gold and silver coins, gold jewellery and silver artefacts, was buried early in the 5th century AD, and was rediscovered in November 1992. Although the major objects have been exhibited in museums and illustrated and discussed in both popular and scholarly publications over the last fifteen years, the results of detailed research on the entire find are published here in full for the first time. This volume provides a complete, illustrated inventory of the items in the treasure other than the 15,000 coins, which have been separately published (in The Late Roman Gold and Silver Coins from the Hoxne Treasure, by P. S.W. Guest, British Museum Press, 2005). It catalogues the 29 superb pieces of gold jewellery, a dozen silver vessels, nearly a hundred silver spoons, and about 40 additional silver objects. The numerous objects made of organic materials (ivory, bone and wood), though individually small, are rare discoveries, and the iron nails and other fittings bear witness to the chest that originally contained the treasure: all are described in detail, bringing the total to just over 400 entries. Fifteen chapters of wide-ranging discussion include specialist contributions on the excavation, conservation and scientific study and analysis of the material, and the identification and interpretation of the inscriptions. Together they place this outstanding find both in its immediate environment of late Romano-British society and in the wider context of the art, iconography and luxury of the late Roman world.

Twelve papers by leading international scholars on the theme of the cultural, regional and personal identity of the Etruscans. The volume celebrates the originality of the Etruscan character manifest in its richly varied workshop production, and examines some unusual objects and buildings, considering what they tell us of Etruscan life, belief and influences. On a personal note, it considers how the Etruscans themselves wished to be identified and remembered. Two contrasting papers discuss attitudes to the Etruscans in the 18th century and the latest evidence for their origins using DNA studies. The papers were originally presented at a conference in 2006, celebrating the work of the renowned Etruscologist, Sybille Haynes.

The ancient Cypriot collections of the British Museum have inspired the essays in this volume in honour of Veronica Tatton-Brown, who for many years was their curator. Written by her academic colleagues and friends, the themes covered range from funeral rites at Late Bronze Age Enkomi to sculptured portraits of parents and children in the 5th and 4th centuries BC, along with the reconstruction of the Persian siege ramp at Palaipaphos and the history of Cypriot archaeology as revealed in the Museum's archives. The focus on individual objects ranges from the superb craftsmanship of an ivory gaming-box to an intriguing clay model of a dagger and its sheath, in a volume that highlights key points of interest in this rich and varied collection. Thomas Kiely is the Cyprus Curator in the Greek and Roman department of the British Museum.

The Kwara'ae and other peoples of Malaita island in Solomon Islands once dressed for special occasions in ornaments of glistening white shell and pearl shell, intricately carved turtle shell, strings and straps of shell money-beads and combs and bands patterned with colourful plant fibres. Today these ornaments are easier to find in museums around the world than in Malaita, but the recollections of Kwara'ae elders help us to understand how and why they were once made and worn. With contributions from the neighbouring Kwaio people who still make such things and examples from other parts of the island in museum and private collections, this book provides the first comprehensive account of Malaitan decorative and body arts. The book reviews the significance of body ornaments in Kwara'ae society, and the history of their rejection under the changing circumstances of colonial rule and Christian conversion, illustrated by historical photographs. It describes the materials, techniques and relationships by which ornaments were produced and exchanged, and then catalogues the great variety of ornaments worn throughout Malaita, fully illustrated in detailed drawings. A vanishing tradition is documented here for the interest of Solomon Islanders as well as all those who appreciate Pacific Islands' arts.

Quilts generically known as tivaivai have been produced by women in the Cook Islands, the Hawaiian Islands, the Society Islands and elsewhere in Eastern Polynesia since the late 19th century, where they were a substitute for bark-cloth but also used in ways deeply invested in the new context of Christian domesticity. In the Cook Islands, quilts are stitched to be given away at funerals, at weddings and other events marking stages of loss and severance in the life of a person. Although often kept for years in trunks far away from the homeland as a result of the migrant diaspora, the quilt and its threads connect those who have been parted. Written from both an anthropological and an artistic perspective, this book examines the visual and cultural characteristics that have made the Polynesian quilt one of the most stunning and captivating art-forms to emerge from the Pacific. It also offers a glimpse into the role played by fabric in the history of contact with Europeans although both traditions shared a common preoccupation with clothing, their understanding could not have been more different. Illustrated in colour throughout, with many specially commissioned photographs, the book will provide not only a unique insight into a culturally rich tradition but a visual feast to inspire both the quilt enthusiast and those interested in the broader field of fabric and textile design.

Since its arrival at the British Museum in 1891 the Aigina Treasure a group of Greek Bronze Age gold jewellery and other objects that is believed to come from the island of Aigina has been shrouded in mystery and speculation. The many uncertainties about the Treasure include its place of origin; whether all the objects are from the same findspot; and whether it should be considered as a homogenous group. Through examination of stylistic elements and comparison with objects from other collections, the contributors to this volume variously argue for the Treasures possible Minoan, Mycenaean, Near Eastern and Egyptian connections. Major discoveries in the field have been made since Reynold Higginss 1979 publication on the Treasure, including the excavation of a warrior shaft grave in Aigina in 1981. The essays are complemented by a complete catalogue of the Treasure, which incorporates the results of an extensive technological examination and is accompanied by specially taken, beautiful colour photography.

John White's watercolours of the flora, fauna and North Carolina Algonquians he encountered on the expedition sent by Walter Raleigh in 1585 are some of the greatest treasures of the British Museum; engraved by Theodor de Bry in 1590 to illustrate Thomas Harriot's A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia , they informed and shaped Europe's view of America and its people for the next two centuries. This volume publishes a very successful interdisciplinary conference held in connection with the exhibition centred on John White, 'A New World: England's first view of America', with speakers from Europe, the USA and Britain, all of them experts in their fields. The varied and wide-ranging papers provided contextual and detailed information not covered in the exhibition catalogue and provide us with new ways of seeing and understanding both the European and Native American perspectives.

This is the first monograph on the British Museum fieldwork at Kom Firin in Egypt's Nile Delta, a settlement created around the time of Ramses II, and occupied until late Antiquity. This volume focuses on the survey and remote sensing of the site, along with a full publication of the Ramesside temple.

This, the fourth in the British Museum's series of terracottas catalogues, features terracottas found in Egypt and dating from the victory of Alexander in 332 BC and the succeeding Ptolemaic and Roman periods until the Arab conquest in AD 641. The typical terracottas of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, in all their exuberant variety, are known mainly from catalogues of unprovenanced material and not much is known of their chronology. No doubt purchased by both Greek and Egyptian members of the population, most such terracottas probably came from the houses of city- and village-dwellers, and, placed in a house-shrine, would have been thought by their owners to have a protective function over their households in everyday life and in childbirth. They would also enhance the fertility of fields and animals. Some 830 terracottas and objects, arranged thematically, are discussed and illustrated. The introduction describes the scope and content of the material; its function and distribution within the villages and cities of Egypt; its religious context; the difficulties of dating it; and manufacturing techniques.