Bloomsbury

It was a wet Saturday after a brilliant run of weather, so a day to go inside. So I thought. So did others. I ambled off in light rain, through a packed tube, across wet roads, through a quiet Bloomsbury park, to the British Museum. Bad choice. I’d never seen it like this. It’s a place of incredible history and treasures collected through empire and wealth with at least some limited justification that it’s well preserved and free but everyone knows that and everyone was there that day. I managed a stroll and came across the Portland vase which has haunted me since my last visit. I am intrigued by technology that’s been unexpectedly around for yonks and that the modern world reinvents. One is the safety pin which the Etruscans and others had as the fibula but won a patent as the safety pin in the US in the C19th. This day I discovered another: the Romans had pocket (=small, folding) knives. See one pic here. It’s not surprising really. They were clever and that technology is easily within their capabilities. There’s lots of fabulous gold and metals and rock and ceramics, of course, because they last. But I am also intrigued by leather and clothing and the like that usually doesn’t. The Cairo museum has a loaf of bread! Sandals are not too common but intriguing. Again, a pic or two. So I caught a few stunning pieces but was glad to escape.

The British Museum is in London.

Blockie I

I know I'm being ridiculously lazy with few posts, but hey it's Christmas. In the meantime, just a short note and some pics of the two blockbuster exhibitions currently in Canberra.

First is the 100 objects show from the British Museum. A string of important works dating from the earliest days, the stoneage. I remembered some from the BM, not least that stone handaxe from the Olduvai Gorge, which is actually the oldest thing on display (1.2-1.4 million years old). And there were some distinct favourites, not least due to my historical interests: the bronze head of Augustus; the Lewis chessmen and the model of Chinese Liubo players; the pieces of eight; the Peruvian Moche pots and Benin plaques and Iraqi clay tablet and Chinese jade bi and bust of Sophocles and Arabian bronze hand and Hebrew astrolabe and Russian revolutionary plate. And others. It will never be like a visit to the real thing (the British Museum. That's just overwhelming although still not my favourite museum: NYC's Met wins that for me). But this small sampling was a great pleasure and a worthy waste of a few hours. (cont.)

A History of the world in 100 objects : From the British Museum is at the National Museum of Australia.

Resplendent humanity

The British Museum is one of the greats. The weather was good and the entry is free so the tourists were numerous, but even so this was no disappointment. It’s big. It’s always busy, but keep away from the Egyptian wing and it’s perfectly OK, even in the height of tourist season. After several visits of the years, I’m starting to feel acquainted with it. I remember key pieces and vistas and I can bypass the obvious stars and make personal discoveries. And I can touch. I remember, perhaps 10 years back, a table in the foyer where you could handle items. Just five items, with an explainer to oversee and describe. I found four tables this time. I handled Roman statues and Neanderthal stone tools and cuneiform clay tablets and guessed at the composition of glass beads and the purpose of T-shaped metal purse holders and investigated dolphin tooth necklaces and bronze Ganeshes. This is a museum of peoples. Being a great museum of a great period of scientific discovery, the objects are great. Lots of oldest known this, or revelatory item that and important enough that items have names. One unvisited corner had the oldest object in the Museum, 1.8m year old stone tool from the Olduvai Gorge, with the oldest known statue of love making, a small carved stone piece only 11K years old from Judea. I mostly bypassed the Rosetta stone and Egyptian galleries. They are stunning but it’s like Bourke Street in there and I found the Assyrian panels too warlike for my pleasure on the day. I delighted over a key cuneiform cylinder of King Cyrus and the little glowing gold Oxus charioteer. There’s gold aplenty with undimmed brilliance as well as silver, iron, stone and softer things like fabrics and bone. There’s humour: old men or soldiers arm in arm. There’s women’s work and experience and voluptuousness and jewellery (excuse the sense of the other, but this is history). There are patterns through history, like the Roman cameo vase that influenced Wedgewood. There are failures, like the 7 fused Roman oil lamps. This is resplendent culture and humanity. A place like this needs a stay of months for frequent revisits. Perhaps some time. The British Museum is just a must.