The British Museum revealed on Wednesday that it would receive 1,700 pieces of world-renowned Chinese ceramics reputed to be worth around 1 billion pounds ($1.27 billion), in the largest donation in its nearly 300-year history.
The collection which has been on loan to the British Museum since 2009, has been donated by the Percival David Foundation.
Some examples from the collection include the blue-and-white ‘David vases’ from 1351, a tiny porcelain wine cup from the late 15th century known as a ‘chicken cup’, one of the most sought-after items in Chinese art, and ‘Ru wares’, all of which are artefacts dating back to the late 11th century.
Thanks to the donation, the British Museum remarked that it would hold one of the most important collections of Chinese ceramics of any public institution outside the Chinese-speaking world all of which are numbering 10,000 objects.
Percival David, a British businessman was born in 1892 and his passion for China inspired him to study the language and collect ceramics – mainly objects of imperial quality or of traditional Chinese taste – to build his now large private collection.
Chris Bryant, the British arts minister additionally said the collection would “educate and enlighten future generations for many years to come”.
The British Museum further added it would loan some of the ceramics to the Shanghai Museum in China and Metropolitan Museum in New York to support the exhibitions there.
