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Description: | The Department of Eastern Art contains the Museum of Eastern Art, formed in 1949 as a subdivision of the Department of Fine Art, and collections housed in the old Indian Institute which had maintained its own museum of Indian art since 1897. The collections of art and archaeology of the Islamic world, the Indian sub-continent, Central Asia, the Himalayas, South-east Asia, China, Japan and Korea and internationally important and are the most extensive of their kind outside of London, surpassed only by the V & A and the British Museum. The Islamic collection, mainly ceramics, covers the 8th Ã- 20th centuries and includes pieces from Spain, Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran and is based on the Gerald Reitlinger and Sir Alan Barlow gifts. There are also seals, talismans, medieval Egyptian tapestries from the Newberry Collection, metalwork, glass including an early 14th century Egyptian mosque lamp and ivory with a royal Cordovan piece of 999AD; the collection is one of the most important outside the Islamic world.
The Indian (including Tibetan and South-east Asian) collections are based on the Old Indian Institute collection with material from the main phases of Indian Art from the Indus Valley civilisation, c.2000BC to the British rule. Particularly rich in Hindu and Buddhist sculpture in stone, bronze and terracotta including the Terracotta goddess from Tamluk, c.200BC, and known as the ÃOxford PlaqueÃ' and the 11th century Pala stone image of Vishnu given in 1686 by Sir William Hedges. There are also important collections of Tibetan and Nepalese art and substantial collections from Central and South-east Asia. The Newberry collection of Indian textile fragments from Fustat is the most important of its kind.
The Chinese collection covers the Neolithic to present and has at its core early bronzes, jades and ceramics from the Sir Herbert Ingram Collection. The ceramics are strong especially the 3rd Ã-11th century ÃgreenwaresÃ', the most important collection outside China, and 17th century porcelain bequeathed by Reitlinger. There is also the only public collection of Chinese paintings outside London and since a donation in 1995 it is probably EuropeÃ's dominant modern Chinese collection. The Michael and Khoan Sullivan collection is on loan to the Museum. Also noteworthy is the Collection of Chinese seals and ceramics from Eric North.
The Japanese holdings have an exceptional collection of paintings second only to the British Museum including works from the Edo period (1600-1868) and Nanga and Shijo paintings and a good collection of screens. The collection of Japanese export porcelain is one of the worldÃ's best and Edo applied art is very good and the Meiji period (1868-1912) is also strong. The Arita porcelain sherd collection is the best outside of Japan.
The Creswell photographic archive of Islamic architecture is important.
In total the Department holds c.15,000 objects of Decorative and applied art, c.2,500 fine art objects, 10 musical instruments, 3,000 costume and textile objects including carpets, 10 arms and armour objects, c.5,000 archaeology objects and c.1,000 items of archive including 60 notebooks form the Beattie collection, 15 objects belonging to T.E. Lawrence and over 30,000 photographs including 8,000 Creswell Archive and 20,000 Beattie Archive. | Source: | Cornucopia - Discovering UK Collections | Address: | Beaumont Street
Oxford Oxfordshire,
OX1 2PH | FAX: | 01865 278018 | Telephone: | 01865 278000 | Identifier: | oai:www.cornucopia.org.uk:4173 | Go to resource |
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