More than 23,000 Chinese artifacts: Asian collections in the British Museum

Interface News Reporter |

Interface News Editor | Cai Xingzhuo

The Guardian reported on August 25 that British Museum director Hartwig Fischer resigned amid alleged theft. Hartwig Fischer said Friday he took responsibility for the museum's failure to properly respond to warnings about thousands of suspected stolen items in 2021. For a time, the British Museum rushed to the hot search, and its related topics with Chinese cultural relics attracted attention.

Chinese antiquities have been part of the British Museum since its inception based on Sir Hans Sloane's collection. Since then, the collection has grown to approximately 23,000 artifacts, including artifacts from the Neolithic period to the present, including paintings, prints, jade, bronzes, lacquerware and ceramics, reflecting the richness and diversity of China's long-standing international ties.

Following the photographer's lens, let's get closer to the Asian collection at the British Museum.

Panorama of a sign outside the British Museum, London, England, August 23, 2023. The British Museum found that the stolen artifacts included up to £50,000 worth of gold jewellery, semi-precious stones and glass, which were sold on eBay for as little as £40. Subsequently, they launched an investigation into the theft of cultural relics.

Visitors in the Grand Courtyard after the British Museum reopened on December 3, 2020, London, England. The UK has gone into a month-long lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The British Museum said on 16 August 2023 that it had dismissed a staff member after discovering that the collection was "lost, stolen or damaged". The objects included gold jewelry, semi-precious stones and glass from the 15th to 19th centuries B.C.

August 3, 2019, London, UK, British Museum, Yuan Qinghua David Vase.

August 3, 2019, London, UK, British Museum, Noh Japan.

On August 1, 2017, London, England, through the museum atrium in the center of the scroll, down the west staircase, through a special security door, you will come to the mysterious Asian painting and calligraphy restoration room of the British Museum. In the restoration room, Taiwanese scholars are admiring a restored ancient painting from the Song Dynasty.

June 03, 2019, London, British Museum Chinese cultural relics Ming Chenghua Doucai dragon pattern Tianzi jar.

August 3, 2019, London, UK, British Museum, Japanese bronze gilt Manjushri Bodhisattva statue.

August 3, 2019, London, England, British Museum, Ming Dynasty Hebei Qingliang Temple mural.

On February 15, 2017, Beijing, the upcoming exhibition "World History in 100 Cultural Relics of the British Museum" was unboxed at the National Museum of China. Chinese and British staff unpacked and inspected the Tang Dynasty burial figurines and placed them in the exhibition hall.

October 20, 2014, London, Chinese artifacts in the British Museum, national treasure Tang Sancai.

On September 21, 2020, the British Museum in London, UK, will present the exhibition "Tantra: enlightenment to revolution".

August 3, 2019, London, England, British Museum, Song Dynasty Ru kiln porcelain.

August 3, 2019, London, UK, British Museum, Ming Dynasty glazed bricks.

On September 21, 2020, the British Museum in London, UK, will present the exhibition "Tantra: enlightenment to revolution".

*Image source: Visual China