Judy Rudoe

Curator

Nineteenth and twentieth century collections; jewellery, silver, engraved gems from 1660; textiles and other East European/Balkan collections from the former department of Ethnography

Department: Prehistory and Europe

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7323 8629
Email: prehistoryandeurope @ thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

Judy Rudoe joined the Museum in 1974 and has specialized in jewellery, following the Hull Grundy Gift of 1978. In 1986 she took over the newly-created modern collection to extend the existing holdings of metalwork, ceramics and glass into the twentieth century.

Most recently, in 2005, she has assumed responsibility for the European collections from the former Department of Ethnography (mostly Eastern Europe and Balkan) and is currently overseeing a project to catalogue and photograph the European and Asian textiles prior to their on-line launch as part of the Museum’s web plan.

Current British Museum projects

Project supervisor for cataloguing of European, Middle Eastern and Asian textiles

Upgrading of computer records prior to online launch for the following areas: Post-medieval finger rings; engraved gems; Balkan jewellery; Greek shadow puppets

The collecting of textiles from Eastern Europe and the Balkans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century

Previous British Museum projects

Upgrading of computer records prior to on-line launch for the following areas: Hull Grundy Gift of Jewellery; the Modern Collection;  Victorian Tiles

Curator of ‘Cartier 1900-1939’, and author of exhibition catalogue, 1997

Lead curator for Gallery 47: Europe, the nineteenth century, 1994

External fellowships/ honorary positions/ membership of professional bodies

Leverhulme Research Fellowship 2007

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries

Attingham Trust Committee

Member of committee and editorial board for:

  • Society of Jewellery Historians
  • Decorative Arts Society 
  • Tiles & Architectural Ceramics Society

Publications

J. Rudoe, Decorative Arts 1850-1950: A catalogue of the British Museum collection (London 1991) (2nd enlarged edition 1994)

J. Rudoe, Cartier 1900-1939, (British Museum, London 1997) (4th revised edition 1999) (exhibition catalogue)

J. Rudoe, 'The faking of gems in the 18th century', in M.Jones (ed.), Why Fakes matter. Essays on problems of authenticity, (London 1992), pp. 23-31

J. Rudoe, ‘Christopher Dresser and his Sources of Inspiration’, in M. Whiteway (ed.) Christopher Dresser 1834-1904 (London 2004) pp. 81-93 (Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York and Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition catalogue)

J. Rudoe, ‘Queen Charlotte’s jewellery: reconstructing a lost collection’, in J. Marsden (ed.), The Wisdom of George III: Papers from a Symposium at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, June 2004 (London 2005), pp. 179-215