The British Museum (BM) has boosted its Chinese art holdings after receiving a private collection of 1,700 ceramic items from the trustees of the Sir Percival David Foundation. The museum described the gift as “the highest value object donation in UK museum history with the 1,700 pieces estimated at around £1bn”.
The ceramic items, dating from the third to the 20th century, were donated following a 15-year loan to the London museum. Pieces from the collection will also be lent to the Shanghai Museum in China and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The David collection, on loan to the British Museum since 2009, is on display in the specially designed bilingual Room 95. Highlights include a Doucai “Chicken cup”, Ming dynasty, Chenghua reign (1465-1487) and a Jun stoneware dish in the form of an eight-petalled flower with rounded sides, Northern Song dynasty (11th-12th century).
Jun stoneware dish in form of eight-petalled flower with rounded sides, NorthernS ong dynasty, 11thC-12thC
© The Trustees of the British Museum
Colin Sheaf, the chair of The Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, says that the donation achieves three objectives: preserving intact the collection; keeping every single piece on public display together in perpetuity in a dedicated gallery and ensuring that the collection can be used for educational purposes for future generations of academics, students and non-specialists alike. The final transfer of ownership to the British Museum will be subject to the Charity Commission’s consent.
Percival David (1892-1964), who was born in Mumbai, was one of the greatest Western collectors of Chinese ceramics. He amassed works during travels in Japan, Hong Kong and China. His connection with the British Museum dates back to 1929 when he donated a dated Ming shrine to the institution.
“Visiting China on business in 1927 he was impressed by the tradition of art connoisseurship he found there. He determined to pursue it and to build up a porcelain collection on the lines of the Imperial Collection in the Forbidden City in Peking [Beijing],” says an obituary published by Cambridge University Press.
The obituary also underlines the collector’s scholarly achievements, noting that “David's first contribution to the literature of Chinese ceramics was made in 1929, an article in the short-lived quarterly, Eastern Art, entitled Some notes on pise yao.” In 2021, a 17th-18th century Yixing brush rest from the Percival David Collection sold at Sotheby’s London sold for £741,000 (with fees; estimate £10,000-~£15,000).