News

Chinese art and archaeology collection secured by Oriental Museum

(17 January 2002)

A collection of Chinese art and archaeology illustrating China's artistic tradition in bronze and ceramics from the Bronze Age to the 19th century has recently been purchased by the Oriental Museum.

A collection of Chinese art and archaeology on loan for 30 years to the Oriental Museum, Durham, recently came under the hammer at Sotheby’s.

Thanks to grants totalling £42, 715 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Resource/V &A Purchase Grant Fund and the Friends of the Oriental Museum, the Museum was able to beat off stiff competition from dealers in Hong Kong, mainland China and Britain, to purchase 18 out of 22 lots (over 40 objects) at auction.

Star pieces are on display again at the Museum, which is part of the University of Durham. They include Neolithic jade sceptres (over 4000 years old), a bronze sword and chariot fittings from 1600 BC (Shang Dynasty), 8th century AD pottery tomb figures (smaller versions of the Terracotta Warrior Army as well as ladies of the court and attendants of the Tang Dynasty), and imperial ceramics from the 18th – 19th centuries (Qing Dynasty).

The collection was originally made by Dr Henry de Laszlo who was born in Budapest, but came to live in England around 1908. In 1941, in order to preserve what he could from the destruction of war, he began collecting objects similar to those that he had appreciated in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Curator, Lindy Brewster said:

"We’re delighted that we’ve managed to prevent much of the de Laszlo collection from being sold into private hands. The collection is comprehensive enough to illustrate China’s artistic tradition in bronzes and ceramics from the Bronze Age to the 19th century. I’m very pleased that the Heritage Lottery Fund appreciated the quality of the collection and enabled the Museum to keep the core of it together as a valuable resource for the region".