A visit to the British Museum

[GarveyLives]

It's not the Museum of Britain.

It doesn't look that way, does it.

 

[Bungle73]

It doesn't look that way, does it.

What?

 

[Pickman's model]

"A visit to the British Museum"

Did you find much there that was "British"?

there is quite a bit, and you don't have to look hard to find it. e.g. off the top of my head lots of anglo-saxon material, quite a bit of stuff in the enlightenment galleries...

 

[Pickman's model]

What?

HE SAID, 'IT DOESN'T LOOK THAT WAY, DOES IT'

PUT YOUR HEARING AID IN

bungle73 recently

 

[dessiato]

I've been many times, but never gone inside. I should make the effort one day.

 

[Pickman's model]

I've been many times, but never gone inside. I should make the effort one day.

early in the morning's best, perhaps on the first day of a school term.

 

[danny la rouge]

German, Italian and Icelandic respectively.

 

[kebabking]

...Did you find much there that was "British"?

yes, all of it. now.

 

[Pickman's model]

German, Italian and Icelandic respectively.

yeh. and the john dee stuff?

 

[dessiato]

early in the morning's best, perhaps on the first day of a school term.

That's why I've never been in. I am usually taking students as part of a tour of London.

 

[Sirena]

yeh. and the john dee stuff?

In the same cabinet as the John Dee stuff is a alchemical knife with a blade of half silver and half gold. I can show you how to do that...

You start with good, strong morning urine....

 

[Pickman's model]

In the same cabinet as the John Dee stuff is a alchemical knife with a blade of half silver and half gold. I can show you how to do that...

You start with good, strong morning urine....

you're taking the piss

 

[danny la rouge]

yeh. and the john dee stuff?

Not pictured in that post. But unless he had stuff imported, I'm sure his artefacts are English (I think he predates the Union?).

 

[Pickman's model]

Not pictured in that post. But unless he had stuff imported, I'm sure his artefacts are English (I think he predates the Union?).

yeh he was about in the elizabethan age

 

[DrRingDing]

Free tours FTW

 

[Bungle73]

Funnily enough, my new membership card arrived today.

 

[RoyReed]

German, Italian and Icelandic respectively.

The Sutton Hoo shoulder clasp is Germanic in style, but could have been made in East Anglia. The Hinton St Mary mosaic could easily have been made by a local mosaicist who was given coins to copy for the roundels - his actual nationality is unknown, but it was made in England. The Lewis chessmen were probably made in Norway near Trondheim.

Edit: corrected Sutton Hoo chessmen to Lewis chessmen - doh!

 

[danny la rouge]

The Sutton Hoo shoulder clasp is Germanic in style, but could have been made in East Anglia. The Hinton St Mary mosaic could easily have been made by a local mosaicist who was given coins to copy for the roundels - his actual nationality is unknown, but it was made in England.

I didn't know the particular items, but was pushing my luck in order to make a flippant joke (but one based on a serious point that I like to play around with: that culture is not the same as a nation or a nationality, and time only intensifies that mismatch).

The Sutton Hoo chessmen were probably made in Norway near Trondheim.

Ah, I misidentified that as a Lewis Chess Piece. The latest thinking (though by no means universally accepted) is that those were made in Iceland.

 

[danny la rouge]

I wanted to go to the British Museum when I was last in London, but the teens said "what, after dragging us to Marx's grave? No way. You're taking us for pizza".

I last visited the British Museum in 1972, to see the Tutankhamen exhibition.

 

[RoyReed]

Ah, I misidentified that as a Lewis Chess Piece. The latest thinking (though by no means universally accepted) is that those were made in Iceland.

Sorry my typing error - it is the Lewis chessmen (corrected in my post), but I still think Norway is the more likely place where they were made.

 

[RoyReed]

I had a summer job in the BM darkrooms (when I was doing photography at the LCP) in the '70s. It was incredible going through the staff entrance and basement stores to get to where I worked before the museum opened to the public. There were bays lined floor to ceiling with shelving, all full of the most amazing items in the reserve collections.

 

[danny la rouge]

Sorry my typing error - it is the Lewis chessmen (corrected in my post), but I still think Norway is the more likely place where they were made.

Not British though. (Not that the term has the same meaning for the period).

 

[Artaxerxes]

I had a summer job in the BM darkrooms (when I was doing photography at the LCP) in the '70s. It was incredible going through the staff entrance and basement stores to get to where I worked before the museum opened to the public. There were bays lined floor to ceiling with shelving, all full of the most amazing items in the reserve collections.

Very jealous, I'd love to work at the museum

 

[RoyReed]

Very jealous, I'd love to work at the museum

The job itself was quite boring, just making b&w prints. The union had negotiated that the darkroom workers were expected to do 40 prints a day. No-one had told me and on my first morning there I'd done 40 prints by about 12:00. A union guy told me not to do any more, so I sat there reading a newspaper when one of the managers came in and asked why I wasn't working . The rest of the time I was there (about six weeks) I just worked really slowly.

The best thing was visiting a different room in the museum every lunchtime. That was a real treat.

 

[Artaxerxes]

The best thing was visiting a different room in the museum every lunchtime. That was a real treat.

Yeah, no matter the job just being able to do that would be amazing and enough reason to do the work.

 

[GarveyLives]

"A visit to the British Museum"

Did you find much there that was "British"?

Apparently they now think that "Black Lives Matter":

British Museum Supports Aims And Objectives Of Black Lives Matter? The Height Of Hypocrisy!

 

[GarveyLives]

"A visit to the British Museum"

Did you find much there that was "British"?

An updated on the current status of looted property from Nigeria held by the British Museum:


'Racist And Condescending' – MP Slams Refusal To Return Benin Bronzes

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[GarveyLives]

"A visit to the British Museum"

Did you find much there that was "British"?

Status confirmed as a repository for stolen property:

British Museum bought ancient Egyptian artefact from convicted antiquities smuggler

 

[JimW]

I struggle to give a shit about a later elite robbing the artefacts of an earlier one.

 

[Spymaster]

I struggle to give a shit about a later elite robbing the artefacts of an earlier one.

Totally. The BM is a haven of stolen gear.

Who knew?

Pfft.