Caring for the collection
Preserving the things of the past for the benefit of future
generations is one of the British Museum's founding principles.
Museum staff have the tough job of caring for and protecting
millions of objects, while making sure millions of people can
access them each year.
Conservation and storage are major parts of the everyday
business of the Museum. For example, the Museum has a collection of
1,400 Chinese paintings, which is one of the finest in Europe. Yet
Chinese paintings on silk or paper are extremely delicate and can
only be displayed for short periods of time because unrolling them
and exposing them to light can damage them.
Perhaps the Museum’s most famous Chinese painting is an early
copy of a hand scroll by the figure-painter Gu Kaizhi (c.AD
344-c.406). It is called Admonitions of the Instructress to
Court Ladies, and is a parody on court life in the form of
advice on correct behaviour for ladies of the imperial harem. It is
only placed on public display for three months a year, so that as
many people as possible can see it. It has also bee re-sited so
that people wanting to study it can do so on a permanent basis.
When looking after all of the objects in its collection, the
Museum combines authentic conservation techniques with modern
technology. Our specialist Hirayama Asian pictorial art
conservation studio is the only one of its kind in a European
museum and is run by a Chinese paintings conservator who trained
and worked in the Shanghai Museum for over fifteen years.
The studio
uses traditional Chinese and Japanese materials and methods of
mounting and conserving paintings, including the manufacture of
Japanese paste-glue which is mixed and then stored until ready for
use, ten years later.
Chinese paintings are stored in a climate controlled area and
each work is individually wrapped to maintain constant conditions.
Chinese ceramics are stored in updated shelving systems, which are
bolted to the floor and ceiling to ensure stability. Each one of
over 8,000 vessels is individually placed on a thin layer of
non-slip foam for protection. Lacquer is also stored in a separate
air-conditioned store with lighting, temperature and humidity
regularly monitored by conservators.