Japanese swords, £18.00
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The 250th Anniversary Medal
Designs by Stephen Cox
These designs for the Museum's medal were submitted by sculptor Stephen Cox. Greatly influenced by the art of the past, Cox has worked in Egypt, where he executed sculptures carved in porphyry, a stone that in ancient times was used for the monuments of classical Rome. He also has a studio in India, where he has collaborated with the Indian temple carvers of Mahabalipuram and executed works inspired by traditional Indian forms.
On one side of both medals, the present British Museum is contrasted with Montagu House, the seventeenth-century residence in which its collections were housed when the Museum was founded in 1753. Montagu House was demolished in the 1840s, and the present building constructed on the same site. The Great Court opened to the public in 2000.
The other sides of the proposed medals bear quotations from George Orwell and T.S. Eliot. The text by Orwell appears against the Rosetta Stone, the inscribed stone through which Egyptian hieroglyphics were first deciphered, which is one of the Museum's best-known treasures. The quotation from Eliot encircles the Tree of Knowledge, nourished by the archaeological remains below and surrounded by the monuments of diverse cultures.