In 1898, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild bequeathed to the British Museum the contents from the New Smoking Room at Waddesdon Manor, a collection of nearly 300 objects to be known as the Waddesdon Bequest. The Bequest contains some of the most beautiful examples of medieval and Renaissance craftsmanship, including exquisite pieces of jewellery, silver plate, painted enamels of Limoges, glass and microcarvings in boxwood. It is the only permanent collection to have a gallery to itself in the British Museum, one that has been redesigned for the 21st century which opened to great acclaim in 2015. To coincide with the new gallery supported by the Rothschild Foundation, a conference was held that opened up this remarkable collection to leading specialists who spoke on all areas of the Bequest. Subjects included new attributions for sculptures, a detailed discussion of the making and marketing of forgeries by Salomon Weininger, Frédéric Spitzer and Alfred André as well as new research on jewellery and its presentation both at Waddesdon Manor and in the new gallery at the BM. The collecting tastes of French and English Rothschilds were compared and contrasted, and a line of Arabic poetry enamelled on the Palmer Cup newly identified. This book presents these findings and positions the Waddesdon Bequest within a wider intellectual and historical context for the first time.

This volume presents for the first time the results of the excavation and scientific analysis between 2005 and 2013 of seventeen Iron Age cauldrons discovered in a large pit on farmland in the parish of Chiseldon, Wiltshire, and consequently acquired by the British Museum. The assemblage is unprecedented in many respects and is the largest known single deposit of prehistoric cauldrons from Europe. The hoard was deposited in the fourth or third centuries BC, although hoarding as a practice is generally underrepresented during this period. The inclusion in the hoard of rare decorated cauldrons also means that it is one of very few deposits from Britain dating to the middle Iron Age known to contain multiple objects decorated with Celtic art and the only example where it is possible to ascertain that decorated objects were all deposited at the same time. Scientific investigation has revealed that the cauldrons were complicated to manufacture and sophisticated techniques such as quenching were used to make them. Examination of food residues adhering to the vessels demonstrates that they were used to prepare and serve both meat and vegetable based dishes probably including stews, gruels and porridges. The discovery of so many contemporary vessels in one deposit has important implications for our understanding of middle Iron Age society in southern Britain. Thought to be vessels made and used for feasting, the capacity represented by the Chiseldon Hoard indicates the potential in these societies to host feasts with many hundreds, if not thousands of participants, demonstrating levels of sophistication and organisation traditionally viewed as being beyond societies with relatively flat social hierarchies.

For more than 300 years commercial fishermen working in the outer Thames estuary have recovered Roman pottery in their oyster dredgers and fishing nets from the seabed in the vicinity of Pudding Pan. However, despite numerous attempts to locate the source of the material, this elusive site has remained undiscovered beneath the waves. This book assesses the recovered assemblage from Pudding Pan to determine the nature and location of the site. Almost 700 artefacts have been retrieved from this area to date, the majority of which are complete plain samian wares, one of the key indicators of the widespread cultural reception of Rome, which were undoubtedly transported throughout the Empire in huge quantities. The exhaustive research presented in this book convincingly argues that the material represents an unknown proportion of a cargo from a Roman trading ship en route from northern France to London that was deposited on the seabed between AD 175 and 195; it is not yet clear whether the deposit represents a shipwreck or a jettisoned cargo. Such a site is extremely rare throughout the Roman Empire, particularly so in northern Europe, and its discovery could play a crucial role in our understanding of Roman trade. The search for the site continues, but this publication offers the first detailed study of a seemingly predominantly samian cargo in British waters and contributes a new perspective on the organisation of trade and consumption in the Roman era.

Buddhism originated in north India and spread to other parts of the subcontinent in the third century BCE. The Andhra region, located along the south-east coast of India, welcomed Buddhism and a stūpa, probably built to house a relic of the Buddha from the north, was constructed at Amaravati. From 200 BCE, the stūpa was enlarged and substantially embellished over several centuries, making it one of the most important Buddhist monuments in India. However, the stūpa fell into decline from the 14th century and it was re-discovered and excavated only in the 19th century. In 1880 more than 120 of the Amaravati sculptures entered the collection of the British Museum, with other pieces eventually finding their way to museums in India, Europe and America.The papers in this book emerged from a conference at the British Museum held in September 2014 that brought together leading specialists from around the world to address aspects of Amaravati and its sculpture. Subjects covered in this volume include the rediscovery of the stūpa at the end of the 18th century as well as its recreation in the 21st century. The art of Amaravati is also placed in the context of other sites and remains from the Andhra region which, despite its importance, has been relatively neglected in the study of the religious and visual cultures of South Asia.

Discovered in Suffolk in 1942, the Mildenhall Treasure is one of the most important collections of Late Roman silver tableware from the Roman Empire, and one of the British Museum’s most iconic finds. It features some of the finest pieces of Roman craftsmanship known from throughout the Roman Empire. This book offers new perspectives on the Treasure and its significance with the wider Roman world, and is essential reading for archaeologists, historians, and those with an interest in Roman Britain.

Winner of the IBP 2017 Specialist Publication Accolade awarded by the International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS) This ground-breaking, beautifully illustrated publication is the outcome of the conference ‘Ming: Courts and Contacts 1400–1450’ that accompanied the British Museum’s major exhibition Ming: 50 years that changed China (September 2014–January 2015). The scope of the exhibition and conference focused on Ming dynasty China in the years 1400 to 1450, a time when China was the largest (and one of the most prosperous) states in the world, ruled by a single family through a network of imperial and regional courts. During this period, many cultural, social and political themes that were to dominate China’s history from this point onwards were either created or consolidated. These include the definitive decision to place the political capital in the north, while the south-central region evolved as an economically dominant entity, a dichotomy that still remains today. This is also a period when contacts of unprecedented scale took place between the Ming empire and the wider world, particularly between courts, through embassies, an aggressive military forward policy and court-sponsored maritime expeditions. The early Ming also remains a period that defines contemporary Chinese conceptions of their own history, and that history’s relations to the rest of the world. Where previous scholarship may have focused on specific aspects of the period or dealt with a range of issues covering the whole of the Ming dynasty, this volume presents the first detailed examination of the crucial years from the Yongle to the Zhengtong era through a diverse range of approaches and materials. It integrates more fully material culture perspectives with the work of social, political, economic, intellectual and cultural historians and situates early Ming court culture within a wider global context.

Walter Edward Guinness (1880–1944), the first Lord Moyne, was an Anglo-Irish politician, businessman and explorer. Travelling across the globe in his private yacht in search for ethnographic material, Lord Moyne visited South Papua three times in 1929, 1935 and 1936. Unlike previous explorers of New Guinea, Lord Moyne and his group travelled along the rivers much further inland, and were able to make sustained contact with several groups of villages, engaging in performances and bartering for a range of objects that included shields and other carvings. Many of these objects were brought back to the British Museum as a means to address the severe lack of representation of South Papuan art and handicraft in the collection for which the area is renowned. Using the most advanced equipment to hand, Lord Moyne’s party took some of the first photographs of the indigenous Asmat people. The wide-ranging series of photographs taken by his companion Lady Vera Broughton provide a unique account of indigenous Asmat life and culture at the time immediately prior to colonisation. many of which are published here for the first time.

Where the Egyptians have wall paintings, the ancient Near East has cylinder seals as the main source of illustrative material, covering a range of subject matter and periods not covered by relief sculptures. The seals are particularly attractive, and the inscriptions are rare examples of personal prayer from the ancient world. This volume continues the story of the cylinder seal styles of the second millennium BC beyond Babylonia in this internationally recognized series documenting the British Museum’s cylinder seals collection. The Isin/Larsa and Old Babylonian Periods of the early 2nd millennium BC merited a whole volume (Volume III), as did the succeeding Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods of the 1st millennium BC (Volume V) and the Pre-Achaemenid and Achaemenid periods of the 1st millennia BC-AD in Iran (Volume VI). However, between 2000 and 1000 BC whole series of regional glyptic styles were developed in various autonomous kingdoms and city states. Each of these has merited its own chapter or section within this current volume, with its own selection of photographs and catalogue entries. As the seals featured in this volume came from a number of different sites, they reflect a greater variety of styles than is the case with the single-period or single-origin groups of seals treated in the previous catalogues. There was also a greater exchange of seal-cutting expertise between the various kingdoms, and it is possible to make tentative suggestions as to seals possibly cut by the same craftsman.

This publication catalogues the British Museum’s uniquely important collection of coins from southern England of the period c. 760–880. During these years, the broad and thin silver penny became established as the standard denomination, used by multiple kingdoms including East Anglia, Kent, Mercia and Wessex, and issued in the names of kings such as Offa of Mercia and Alfred the Great. As a window onto the culture and ideology of Anglo-Saxon England at a time of impressive cultural achievement and increasing political complexity, the beautiful coins of this period are an indispensable resource, with value for all those interested in the art, history and archaeology of the eighth and ninth centuries. Containing more than 1,400 coins, the British Museum’s collection represents the single richest collection for the period, and stands out for its holdings of both famous rarities and large representative runs of numerous coin-types. This is the first catalogue of this part of the Museum’s collection to be published since the nineteenth century, since which time it has expanded dramatically in size. All coins are illustrated and described in full, and set into context with an introduction surveying their numismatic and historical background, including a description of the history of the collection itself.

This volume presents for the first time an authoritative and systematic account of the coins minted in the Roman provinces during the period from the accession of Trajan Decius in AD 249 to the death of Uranius Antoninus in AD 254 and covers the reigns of Trajan Decius (AD 249–51), Trebonianus Gallus and Volusian (AD 251–3), Aemilian (253) and Uranius Antoninus (AD 253–4). The publication gives a complete picture of the material, thereby not only meeting the needs of numismatists but also providing an essential reference book for historians, archaeologists and other students of the Roman empire. The introductory essays and extensive catalogue section are followed by indexes and an illustration of every major issue listed. It catalogues over 15,000 coins classified into 2,330 main varieties from the world’s principal collections, including the British Museum and Bibliothèque nationale de France. These were minted at 120 cities located throughout the eastern part of the Roman Empire, from Viminacium in Serbia to Rhesaena in eastern Syria and from the Bosporan Kingdom in Crimea to Alexandria in Egypt. The catalogue includes the extensive coinages made by the cities of the Roman provinces of Asia and Phrygia-Caria and the complex coinage from Syrian Antioch.

Malaita traces the history and culture of a Pacific island from the 19th to 21st centuries through over 600 images drawn from the archives of the British Museum and public and private photographic collections around the world. This book explores Malaita as it was represented to the wider world through photographs, artefacts, maps and drawings over a period of 150 years. Malaitans have been portrayed as exotic natives and migrant workers, as Christian converts and colonial subjects, and as ordinary people leading a distinctive way of life in a rapidly changing society. The colonisation of Malaita through the work of missions, government and business in the early twentieth century, the upheavals of the Second World War and the economic and political developments that followed were documented in thousands of photos. Thousands more were made by anthropologists researching detailed studies of local culture in the second half of the 20th century. As Malaitans migrated to neighbouring Guadalcanal to participate in the commercial development of Solomon Islands, a civil conflict in the early 21st century was followed by renewed efforts to build upon their ancestral culture for the peaceful development of their island. This book is an image-led and accessible narrative that provides fascinating new insights into the history of a Pacific island and will be an essential reference for researchers, students and general readers with an interest in the anthropology and history of Melanesia and the Pacific Islands.

The latest volume of this highly regarded series presents for the first time an authoritative and systematic account of the coins minted in the Roman provinces during the period from the accession of Nerva in AD 96 to the death of Hadrian in AD 138 and includes the three reigns of Nerva (AD 96–98), Trajan (AD 98–117) and Hadrian (AD 117–38). The book gives a complete picture of the material, thereby not only meeting the needs of numismatists but also providing an essential reference for historians, archaeologists and other students of the Roman Empire. The introductory essays and extensive catalogue section are followed by indexes and an illustration of every major issue listed. The book catalogues over 50,000 coins classified into 7,000 main varieties from the world’s principal collections, including the British Museum and Bibliothèque nationale de France. These were minted at 300 cities located throughout the eastern part of the Roman Empire, from Apollonia in Albania to Trapezus in Turkey and from Tomi in Romania to Alexandria in Egypt. The catalogue includes the extensive coinages made by the cities of the Roman province of Asia and the complex coinage from Alexandria in Egypt. Consequently, it will be an essential reference for numismatists, historians and archaeologists as well as all students of the Roman Empire.

The British Museum citole is a unique example of medieval craftsmanship and is one of very few surviving instruments from the Middle Ages. This new publication includes selected papers from the first international symposium on the British Museum citole, held in November 2010 to highlight recent new research, conservation work and scientific findings related to the British Museum citole. Highly illustrated to reflect the visual richness of this beautiful instrument, The British Museum Citole: New Perspectives features a wide range of academic approaches to the subject, drawing together experts from the fields of history, art history, music, organology, conservation and science and performance practice.

A key publication on the British Museum’s internationally renowned Late Antique gold glass collection, this is the first publication in 50 years to offer new ideas on Late Antique gold glass, one of the most important areas in the field of ancient glass studies. It provides new insights into Early Christian iconography and will appeal to specialists and non-specialists as well as museums and collectors. Includes a full catalogue of the British Museum’s collection with beautiful colour illustrations. Edited by Chris Entwhistle and Liz James.

A landmark publication of essays resulting from the Treasures from Heaven conference at the British Museum, exploring the relationship between sacred matter and precious materials in the Middle Ages.

A comprehensive re-evaluation of the objects discovered in the 1886 excavation at Tell Dafana and a new assessment of the site’s significance from the seventh to the fifth century BC.