I’m feeling conscious of my age, partly because it’s a new year and partly because I’m very much looking forward to a new series on Radio 4 and that tends to mean you’re of a certain age.
The series is A History of the World in 100 Objects, the aim being to study world history through the medium of 100 objects from the British Museum, including the bust of Ramesses II pictured above. According to the BM the Ramesses sculpture is “a master-class in how to present the image of a political leader” – Brown and Cameron take note in this election year.
As it’s probably possible to spend a whole year in the BM and still not see the entire collection I thought this would be a good excuse to pick out five of my favourites.
The John Addis Islamic Gallery is tucked away by the BM’s back entrance in Montague Place and is often a good place to escape the crowds that can gather round the Greek marbles and Egyptian mummies. Placed rather casually at the bottom of a short flight of steps leading down into the gallery is a marble jar stand made in twelfth century Egypt. It isn’t in a display case and I discovered it by almost tripping over it.
If you haven’t fallen over get down on your knees anyway and have a look at the stand’s side which is decorated with engraved riders and lions. I must admit its colour isn’t so wonderful – it’s made of that marble the colour of chewed chewing gum. But it has great functional elegance – apparently unglazed pots were placed on the stand and water dripped into a projecting trough.
To me this pot stand sums up the Islamic world’s genius for handling water. It’s a miniature, homely version of all those glorious gardens with their rills and fountains.
Sticking with an Egyptian Islamic theme but moving on to the museum’s Sainsbury African galleries I’d recommend ‘Knowledge is sweeter than honey’, a wooden lattice screen made by a contemporary artist, Susan Hefuna. Hefuna is of Egyptian-German background and she has entwined the quotation about knowledge, written in Arabic script, through the screen’s honeycomb pattern. It’s a real trick of the eye, magician’s piece as the lettering comes and goes like a desert mirage – visible from a distance it disappears as you close in to examine the screen.
Just around the corner from the shadows cast by Hefuna’s screen is a bronze head of a queen mother from the kingdom of Benin in West Africa, made in the sixteenth century. For sheer poise and beauty this has to be one of the BM’s star possessions. Standing in the spotlights with her serene expression and tall conical head-dress this 500 year old monarch turns our modern ideas of catwalk glamour into ashes.
On the subject of glamour I’m afraid my favourites list has to include something gold and the next object partly ticks that box. Consisting of five gold, three cornelian and three lapis lazuli beads the Aigina bracelet is one small part of the Aigina treasure, a collection of ancient Greek jewellery the BM bought from a London sponge-dealer in 1892.
What’s novel about the Aigina bracelet is that each bead is moulded in the shape of a right hand cupping a woman’s breast. As the bracelet dates back to around 1,500 BC and gold is soft the golden breasts have worn worst, one in particular is dented and deflated. I suspect this may slightly disappoint men in search of the ultimate breast but make the bracelet more endearing to women. From the look of it that dented breast has had a few experiences, including pregnancy and childbirth.
The Aigina bracelet can be found in gallery 12, just to the left of the BM’s main entrance.
My final favourite is secreted away in the Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery which contains more crockery than an IKEA warehouse. Exhibit number 306 is a small, silver rimmed bowl made at the time of the Song dynasty (11th to 13th century). Its black and brown glaze makes it look like tortoiseshell and it would fit easily in the palm of your hand. To honour its elegance it would almost be worth giving up builder’s tea in favour of something delicate and flowery.
Image: Statue of Ramesses II, 1250 BC, Egypt © The Trustees of the British Museum
