The British Museum is to receive the highest-value gift in UK museum history as it acquires £1 billion worth of Chinese ceramics.
Trustees of the Sir Percival David Foundation are to donate 1,700 pieces to the London museum, based in the city’s Bloomsbury area.
British businessman Sir Percival David, who lived from 1892 to 1964, collected the items in Europe, Japan, Hong Kong and China, with his passion for the country leading him to become fluent in Chinese.
The David vases are among the items being donated to the museum (British Museum/PA)
The collection has been on loan to the museum since 2009 in the specially designed bilingual Room 95, with an online catalogue available to view across the world, as Sir Percival wanted his private collection to be used to inform and inspire people.
Director of the British Museum Dr Nicholas Cullinan said: “I am humbled by the generosity of the trustees of the Sir Percival David Foundation in permanently entrusting their incomparable private collection to the British Museum.
“These celebrated objects add a special dimension to our own collection and together offer scholars, researchers and visitors around the world the incredible opportunity to study and enjoy the very best examples of Chinese craftsmanship anywhere in existence.”
The donation will bring the museum’s collection of Chinese ceramics to 10,000 pieces, making it one of the most important collections of the ceramics of any public institution outside the Chinese-speaking world.
The chairman of The Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art and The Sir Percival David Foundation Academic and Research Fund, Colin Sheaf, said: “In every respect, this gift achieves the three objectives which most preoccupied Sir Percival as he planned for the collection’s future.
“To preserve intact his unique collection, to keep every single piece on public display together in perpetuity in a dedicated gallery, and to ensure the collection would remain not only a visual display of surpassing beauty, but also an inspiration and education for future generations of academics, students and non-specialists alike.”
Arts minister Sir Chris Bryant added: “Thanks to the huge generosity of the Sir Percival David Foundation, I am thrilled these world-famous Chinese ceramics will now be displayed permanently in the British Museum, where the collection will educate and enlighten future generations for many years to come.
“I am immensely grateful for this phenomenal act of generosity and very much hope it will help set a trend for others.”
Highlights from the collection include the David vases from 1351, which revolutionised the dating for blue and white ceramics with their discovery, and a chicken cup used to serve wine for the Chenghua emperor and Ru wares made for the Northern Song dynasty court around 1086.
After their donation, pieces will be lent to the Shanghai Museum in China and Metropolitan Museum in New York as part of the British Museum’s support of exhibitions worldwide.
The final transfer of ownership to the British Museum will be subject to the Charity Commission’s consent.