British Museum product licensing

Founded in 1753, the British Museum was the world's first national public museum. Across 8 million objects, the collection tells the stories of cultures from the dawn of human history to the present.

That the British Museum is a museum of the world, for the world, is central to our product licensing programme. With partners, we're able to share the collection and its stories with consumers and fans worldwide in creative and unique ways. 

When partnering with us, you're partnering with a globally recognised museum. You're also supporting our work; all profits return to the Museum so we can continue preserving and sharing the collection. 

Work with us

The Museum's licensing programme offers a strong commercial approach. We work with partners to deliver sector best practice commercial support, through collection consultation, product development and campaign collaboration and a focus on delivering best-practice business efficiencies.

Our programme is truly global, available in Asia, Australasia, North America and Europe. Our broad range of products span from fashion and homewares to jewellery and stationery.

Objects in the British Museum's collection range from the earliest tools made by humans, such as the Clovis Spear Point, and objects from the ancient world including the Rosetta Stone, to more recent acquisitions from around the globe.

The Museum houses renowned collections, including from ancient Egypt and the ancient Near East, the Classical World, and Europe, as well as from Asia, including vast print collections from Japan, featuring works by Hokusai, Hiroshige and others.

The Museum holds the national collection of Western prints and drawings, in the same way as the National Gallery and Tate hold the national collection of paintings. It's one of the top three collections of its kind in the world. The collection covers the history of drawing and printmaking with large holdings of the works of important artists such as Dürer, Michelangelo, Raphael, Rembrandt and Goya, as well as JMW Turner's watercolours, Mary Delany's flower studies, Cruikshank's caricatures and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland's original illustrations by the brothers Tenniel among others. There are also large collections of historical, satirical and topographical prints, and important collections of printed ephemera, such as trade cards, fans and playing cards.