Character of the Christy Museum.
The little that need here be added as to the nature and extent of Mr.Christy’sgift to the Public, will be best said in the words of the present able Curator of the Collection, Mr. A. W.Franks. But it should be first premised that the posthumous gift was only the continuation of a long series of gifts, which embraced the Museums, not of England alone, but those of Northern and of Southern Europe, and (as I think) some of those of America:—
Ancient Europe and part of North America.
Among the most important contents of theChristyMuseum is a collection of stone implements from the Drift. They are the most ancient remains of human industry hitherto discovered; they include a remarkably fine series from St. Acheul, near Amiens. Antiquities found in theCaves of Dordogne, were excavated by Mr.Christyand M.Lartet, at the expense of the former. This collection is very extensive, and includes a number of drawings on reindeer bone and horn, probably some of the most ancient works of art that have been preserved.|Franks’Report on Christy Museum(abridged).|It would have been still more extensive, had it not been known that Mr.Christyintended to present the unique specimens to the French Museum, an intention which the Trustees under his Will have felt bound to fulfil. The Museum includes many ancient stone implements found on the surface, in England and Ireland, France, Belgium, and Denmark. The last of these is a remarkable collection, and includes a good series from the Danish Kitchenmiddens. A few specimens from Italy are also to be found; a valuable collection from the caves at Gibraltar; and specimens from the Swiss Lakes. For convenience, a case of ancient stone implements from Asia has been placed in this room, as well as the more modern implements, dresses, and weapons of the Esquimaux of America and Asia, and of the maritime tribes of the North-West Coast of America. These furnish striking illustrations of the remains found in the Caves of Dordogne, and prove that, while the climate was similar to that of the northern countries in question, the inhabitants of that part of France must have resembled the Esquimaux in their habits and implements.
Africa and Asia.
The African Collection is very extensive, and supplies a lacuna in the collections of the British Museum, where there are few objects from this continent. The same may be said of the series from the Asiatic Islands. The collection from Asia proper is not very numerous; the races now occupying that continent being generally in a more advanced state of civilization than that which especially interested Mr.Christy. Attention should, however, becalled to two valuable relics from China; an Imperial State Seal carved in jade, and a set of tablets of the same material, on which has been engraved a poem by the EmperorKien-Lung.
Melanesia and Polynesia.
The Polynesian Room contains a valuable collection of weapons, ornaments, and dresses, both from the islands inhabited by the black races of the Pacific, and from those of Polynesia proper. Many of the specimens are of interest, as belonging to a state of culture which has now completely changed, and as illustrating manners and customs that have disappeared before the commerce and the teaching of Europeans.
Asia.
In the ‘Asian Room’ are placed the larger objects from the Pacific, such as spears, clubs, and paddles. The collection of spears is very large and interesting.
Australia and part of North America.
The Australian Collection is very complete, and it would not be easy to replace it, inasmuch as the native races are dwindling in most parts of that continent.
North and South America.
The American department in chief includes antiquities and recent implements and dresses from the North American Indians; ancient Carib implements; and recent collections from British Guiana, and other parts of South America. The most valuable part of the contents of this room is the collection of Mexican antiquities, which is not only extensive, but includes some specimens of great rarity. Among them should be especially mentioned the following:—An axe of Avanturine jade, carved into the form of a human figure; a remarkable knife of white chalcedony; a sacrificial collar formed of a hard green stone; a squatting figure, of good execution, sculptured out of a volcanic rock; and three remarkable specimens coated with polished stones. The latter consist of a wooden mask covered with a mosaic of blue stones, presumed to be turquoises, butmore probably a rare form of amazon-stone; a human skull made into a mask, and coated with obsidian and the blue stone mentioned above; and a knife with a blade of flint, and with a wooden handle, sculptured to represent a Mexican divinity, and encrusted with obsidian, coral, malachite, and other precious materials.|Franks’Report, as above.|There is also a small but choice collection of Peruvian pottery.
A catalogue of the collection was privately printed by Mr.Christyin 1862; but it embraces only a small part of the present collection. A more extended catalogue is in preparation.
It is due to accuracy to add that the aspect of the rooms devoted to theChristyMuseum in Victoria Street, and the facilities of study which they afford, are utterly unsatisfactory to real students. They are adapted only to holiday sightseers, who look and go, and but to very small groups, indeed, even of them.
Every praise is due both to the Trustees and to their officer, for having done their best, under strait and lamentable limitations, theremovalof which is the duty of Parliament and of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, not that of the Trustees. Under the Premiership of such an eminent scholar and writer as Mr.Gladstone, humbler students of history and of literature would fain hope that a long-standing reproach will speedily be removed; but his ministerial surroundings are unfriendly to such anticipations. After words which we have recently heard,from the Treasury Bench itself, about Public Parks, there is only scanty ground for hope that much improvement can, under existing circumstances, be looked for in respect to Public Museums.
At all events, the condition, as to space, of theChristyMuseum in Victoria Street, no less than the condition, inthat respect, of portions of the general Museum of Antiquities at Bloomsbury itself—and of nearly all our splendid national collections in Natural History—gives tenfold importance to that question of speedy enlargement or efficient reconstruction which it will be my duty rather to state, than to discuss, in the next chapter.|The state of the Christy Collection viewed in its bearings upon the question of Museum reconstruction.|It will be my earnest aim to state it with impartiality, and, for the most part, in better words than my own.
The archæological bequest of James Woodhouse, of Corfu.
Next in importance—but next at a long interval—to the accessions which the Nation owes to the munificence of HenryChristy, comes the bequest of Mr. JamesWoodhouse, of Corfu, the circumstances attendant upon which have much singularity.
It is only of late years (speaking comparatively) that British Consuls have become at all notable as collectors of antiquities. But when once the new fashion was set, it spread rapidly, and it may now be hoped that there will be as little lack of continuance as of speed. In Chapter V, I had to mention (though very inadequately to the worth of their labours) several Consuls in the Levant, who have eminently distinguished themselves in augmenting our National Museum. But in this chapter the reader must be introduced to a Consul who rather obstructed than promoted a worthy public object.
JamesWoodhousewas a British subject engaged in commerce, who had resided for many years at Corfu (where for a time he had filled the office of Government Secretary), and who consoled his self-imposed exile by collecting a cabinet of coins, which eventually became one of great value, and also an extensive museum of miscellaneous, but chiefly of Greek, antiquities. Repeatedly, during his lifetime, he announced his desire and purpose to perpetuatehis collection by giving it to the British Museum. When his health failed, he began to superintend in person the packing up of the most valuable portions of his museum; but illness grew upon him, and he was forced to leave off his preparations abruptly.
A delicate circumstance connected with his family circle seems to have combined with this regretted interruption, by increasing illness, of his precautionary measures and intentions (the secure fulfilling of which lay near his heart), to make him uneasy and anxious.|The circumstances of the Woodhouse bequest.|He sent for a legal friend, Dr.Zambelli; told him of his plans, and also of his fears that they might be—in the event of his sudden death, and he felt that death was fast coming—obstructed.Zambellitold him that the person to whom his purpose and wishes ought to be communicated, without delay, was undoubtedly the British Consul-General, Mr.Saunders. In joint communication with both of them, a deed of gift was prepared. ‘Having been engaged,’ said the donor, ‘in numismatic pursuits, ... and being desirous that the Collection of Coinsand other Antiquitiesso formed by me, should be dedicated to national purposes, I give,’ and so on. No inventory, however, had been made when the donor died, on the twenty-sixth of February, 1866. BeforeWoodhouse’sdeath, Mr. Consul-GeneralSaundersput a guard round the house; and, immediately after the event, sent away all the household, taking official possession of the whole of the effects, in the manner usual in cases of undoubtedintestacy.[47]He then, according to his own statement, set about ‘selecting such portions’ of Mr.Woodhouse’sproperty as ‘seemed’ (to him and to a clerical friend of the collector) ‘suitablefor the British Museum.’
Most naturally, when the intelligence came to the Museum, it was thought by the Trustees that Mr.Saundershad both very seriously exceeded, and very gravely fallen short of, his obvious official duty. ‘Selection’ was felt to have been superfluous in respect to any and every item, of every kind, belonging to the donor’s museum. Just as plainly, the instant forwarding of the whole, on the other hand, was a peremptory obligation upon the British Consul.
Eventually (and by the zealous exertions of Sir A.Panizziand of Mr. CharlesNewton, respectively, on behalf of the Trustees) conclusive evidence was placed before LordStanley(the now Earl ofDerby, and then, it will be remembered, Foreign Secretary of State) that Mr. Consul-GeneralSaundershad divided the Woodhouse antiquities intotwoportions, and had then proceeded to allot the smaller portion to the British Museum, and the larger to the ‘heirs-at-law’ of the deceased. Nor is it yet quite certain that such division wasallthe division that occurred.
After long inquiries and much correspondence—as well between the Foreign Office and the Queen’s Advocate, as between the Trustees and their officers on the one hand, and various persons at Corfu, including, of course, the Consul-General himself, on the other—LordStanleytouched the point of the affair with characteristic keenness when he wrote, in his despatch to Mr.Saundersof the seventh of January, 1867: ‘Your neglect tomake an Inventoryof the effects of the deceased has been the main cause of the doubts which have been felt as to the propriety of your conduct in this matter, and of the inquiry which has been the consequence of those doubts.’
But that neglect was then incurable. And, subsequentlyto the despatch thus worded, further inquiry has but made the omission more regrettable. The making of the Inventory had been pressed on Mr.Saunders’attention at the time of the Collector’s death.
Newton; inReturns to Parliament, of the year 1866.
That part of theWoodhouseMuseum which came to England in 1866 included a very interesting Collection of Greek Coins, chiefly from Corcyra, Western Greece, and the Greek islands; an extensive series of rings and other personal ornaments; some ancient glass; a few medallions; a few sculptures, in marble, of doubtful antiquity; and last, but far indeed from being least acceptable, a most beautiful head of Athené in cameo, cut on a sardonyx.|Vischer,Archaeologische Beiträge aus Griechenland, p. 2.|It was thought by the antiquaryVischer—who saw this fine cameo about the year 1854—that it represents the head ofPhidias’famous statue in gold and ivory, and therefore had a common origin with the jasper intaglio so often praised by archæologists who have seen the Imperial Cabinet at Vienna.
Lord Napier of Magdala, and the additions to the Museum of the Antiquities and MSS. of Abyssinia, 1867–8.
Some of my readers will remember that although war, and the calamities which commonly accompany it, have often devastated museums and libraries, it has occasionally enriched them. Sometimes by sheer plunder, as underCatharineof Russia and the marshals of her predatory armies. Sometimes by acts of genuine beneficence and public spirit, as in Ireland underBlount(afterwards Earl of Devonshire); and, again, under the great Protector. LordNapieradds his honoured name to the small category of the soldiers who have justifiably turned victorious arms to the profit of learning, and the enrichment of honestly built-up national collections. I cannot, however, but regard as utterly unworthy of the British arms and name certainacquisitions which were incidental to that campaign. ‘Mr.Holmes, the officer attached to the Abyssinian Expedition by the Trustees of the British Museum’—I quote exactly and literally from the ‘Accounts and Estimates’ of last year (1869)—‘collected ... among other objects, a silver chalice and a paten bearing Æthiopic inscriptions, showing them to have been given to various churches by KingTheodore.’
The collection of Sacramental Plate in Abyssinia.
I am certain to be uncontradicted when I assert, that neither the Trustees of the British Museum, nor LordNapierof Magdala, instructed Mr.Holmesto take from Christian churches in Abyssinia their sacramental plate, or their processional crosses.
It is a far pleasanter task to praise the diligence with which Mr.Holmesexecuted the Commission really given him by the Trustees. He collected many specimens of Abyssinian art and industry which were fit contributions to the National Museum.|The collection of Abyssinian MSS.|In like manner, LordNapierauthorised the collection, partly by officers under his command, and partly by the researches of Mr.Holmes, of a series of Abyssinian Manuscripts, extending to three hundred and thirty-nine volumes. These were given to the Museum by the then Secretary of State for India.
The Slade bequest.
In the same year with the Abyssinian spoils, came a noble addition to the Art Collections of the Museum by the bequest of the late FelixSlade, and a rich addition to the Library, by the purchase of the Japanese books collected by the late Dr.Von Siebold, during the later of his two visits to Japan, a country which he so largely contributed to make well known to the rest of the world.
FelixSladewas the younger son of RobertSlade, in his day a well-known Proctor in Doctors’ Commons. Mr. WilliamSlade, elder brother of Felix, had inherited thevaluable estate of Halsteads in Lonsdale (Yorkshire), under the will of the last male-heir of that family, and on his early death he was succeeded by his brother, the benefactor.
Truly a ‘benefactor.’ To purposes of public charity he bequeathed not less than seven thousand pounds, and bequeathed that sum with wise forethought, and with Christian generality of view. He founded and munificently endowed Professorships of Art at each of the ancient Universities, and at University College in London. To the British Museum he gave the splendid bequest about to be described, which had been selected with exquisite taste, knowledge and judgment, and which, under such rare conditions of purchase, had cost him more than twenty-five thousand pounds.|The Slade Museum of Antiquities. 1869.|I describe it in the precise words—chiefly from the pen of one of his Executors—which are used in the Return to Parliament of 1869:—‘The collection of glass and other antiquities bequeathed to the Nation by the late FelixSlade, Esq.,F.S.A., includes about nine hundred and fifty specimens of ancient glass, selected with care, so as to represent most of the phases through which the art of glass-working has passed. Collected in the first instance with a view to artistic beauty alone, the series has been since gradually enriched with historical specimens, as well as with curiosities of manufacture, so as to illustrate the history of glass in all its branches.
‘Of early Egyptian glass there are not many examples in the collection; one of some interest is a case for holding thestibium, used by the Egyptian ladies for the eye, and which is in the form of a papyrus sceptre. The later productions of Egypt are represented by some very minute specimens of mosaic glass, formed of slender filaments of various colours fused together, and cut into transverse sections.
‘To the Phœnicians have been attributed the making of many little vases of peculiar form and ornamentation that are met with, not unfrequently, in tombs on the shores of the Mediterranean. They are of brilliant colours, with zigzag decoration, and exhibit the same technical peculiarities, so that they must have been derived from one centre of fabrication. Of these vases there is a considerable series, showing most of the varieties of form and colour that are known.
‘The collection is especially rich in vessels moulded into singular shapes, found principally in Syria and the neighbouring islands, and which were probably produced in the workshops of Sidon, but at a later time; possibly as late as the Roman dominion. The Museum Collections were previously very ill provided with such specimens. To the same date must belong a vase handle, stamped with the name ofArtasthe Sidonian, in Greek and Latin characters.
‘Of Roman glass there is a great variety, as might be expected from the skill shown in glass-making during the Imperial times of Rome.|A. W. Franks,Account of Slade Museum, in the Parliamentary Returns of 1869.|Large vases were not especially sought after by Mr.Slade, but two fine cinerary urns may be noticed, remarkable not only for their form, but for the beautiful iridescent colours with which time has clothed them. There is also a very fine amber-coloured ewer, with blue filaments round the neck, which was found in the Greek Archipelago; an elegant jug or bottle with diagonal flutings, found at Barnwell, near Cambridge, and a brown bottle, splashed with opaque white, from Germany. Of cut glass, an art which it was formerly denied that the Romans possessed, there are good examples; such, for instance, is a boat-shaped vase of deep emerald hue, and of the same make apparently as the Sacro Catino of Genoa; abowl cut into facets, found near Merseburg, in Germany; and a cup, similarly decorated, found near Cambridge. The last two specimens are of a brilliant clear white, imitating rock crystal, a variety of glass much esteemed by the Romans. Several vessels found in Germany are remarkable for having patterns in coloured glass, trailed as it were over the surface. There are two very fine bowls of millefiori glass, one of them with patches of gold, and very numerous polished fragments illustrating the great variety and taste shown by the ancients in such vessels. Two vases exhibit designs in intaglio; one of them, a subject with figures; the other, a bowl found near Merseburg, exhibits the story of Diana and Actæon; the goddess is kneeling at a pool of water in a grotto; Actæon is looking on, and a reflection of his head with sprouting horns may be distinguished in the water at the goddess’s feet; to prevent any mistake, the names of the personages, in Greek, are added. This bowl may be of a late date, probably early Byzantine. Of vases decorated in cameo, fragments alone are to be found in the collection; but as only four entire vases are known, this is not surprising. One of the fragments seems to be part of a large panel which has represented buildings, &c., and has on it remains of a Greek inscription. There are several glass cameos and intaglios, the representatives of original gems that have long since been lost; one of the cameos is a head ofAugustus; another represents an Egyptian princess; whilst among the intaglios are several of great excellence; of these should particularly be noticed a blue paste representing Achilles wounded in the heel, and crouching down behind his rich shield, a gem worthy of the best period of Greek art. One of the rarest specimens in the collection is a circular medallion of glass, on which is painted a gryphon; the colours appear to be burnt in, andit is therefore a genuine specimen of ancient painting on glass, of which but three other instances are known.
‘In the fourth and fifth century it was the habit to ornament the bottoms of bowls and cups with designs in gold, either fixed to the surface or enclosed between two layers of glass. These specimens have generally been found in the Catacombs of Rome; but two or three have been found at Cologne, one of which is in the collection. It is the remains of a disc of considerable size, with a central design, now destroyed; around are eight compartments, with subjects from the Old and New Testaments: Moses striking the Rock, the History of Jonah, Daniel in the Lions’ Den, the Fiery Furnace, the Sacrifice of Isaac, the Nativity, and the Paralytic Man; of these, the Nativity is a very rare representation.
‘Of glass of a Teutonic origin there is but one specimen in the collection, a tumbler of peculiar form, from a cemetery at Selzen, in Rhenish Hesse. Like other glasses of the time, it is so made that it cannot be put down until it has been emptied, and thus testifies to the convivial habits of the Teutons.
‘Of early Byzantine glass but little is known; the bowl with Diana and Actæon, already noticed, is very probably of that period; and a Byzantine cameo with the head ofChristshould be mentioned.
‘Of glass of the middle ages, from the West of Europe, but little or nothing has been preserved save the exquisite painted glass in cathedrals and churches. Of the Eastern glass of the same period several specimens are in the collection. Among these is a very beautiful bottle, probably of the thirteenth century, decorated with a minute pattern of birds; a lamp of large size, made in Syria to hang in a mosque, bears the name ofSheikhoo, a man of great wealthand importance in Egypt and Syria, who died in 1356, after building a mosque at Cairo.
‘To a later period of the Eastern glass works may be referred an ewer of a sapphire blue, resplendent with gold arabesques, and several other richly decorated pieces, all made in Persia.
‘Venice for many centuries held the foremost place among the makers of glass. Enriched, to begin with, by her very extensive trade in beads, she received gladly the Byzantine workers in glass, who had been driven out of Constantinople by the Turks. Henceforward the variety of her glass wares increased, and must have brought much profit. The earliest glass vases which can with certainty be referred to Venice are of the fifteenth century; of these, a large covered cup with gilt ribs is remarkable for its early date and size. The two finest specimens are, however, two goblets richly enameled; one of them is blue, with a triumph of Venus; the other green, with two portraits. These were the choicest specimens in theDebrugeandSoltykoffCollections successively, and were obtained by Mr.Slade, for upwards of four hundred pounds, at the sale of the latter collection. Among other enameled specimens may be noticed three shallow bowls, or dishes, with heraldic devices: one has the arms of PopeLeo X, 1513–1521; another those ofLeonardo Loredano, Doge of Venice, 1501–1521; and the third the arms ofFabrizio Caretto, Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, 1513–1521.
‘The blown glasses of Venice are numerous and well selected, exhibiting great beauty of outline and variety of design. Among them should be especially remarked, a very tall covered cup, surmounted with a winged serpent, from theBernalCollection; and two drinking glasses, with enameled flowers forming the stems.
‘The coloured vases display most of the hues made at Venice; ruby, purple, green, and blue, as well as an opalescent white and an opaque white, the latter often diversified with splashes of other colours. To these may be added various imitations of agate, avanturine, &c.|Franks, as above.|Another peculiar fabric of Venice is well illustrated, the frosted glass belonging generally to an early period.
‘In the production of millefiori glass the Venetians did not equal the ancients, either in harmony of colour or variety of design. The rosettes were formed of sections of canes, such as were employed in making beads. The specimens of this glass are rare, but there are not less than seven pieces so ornamented in the collection.
‘Of lace glass, one of the most remarkable productions of Venice, and which nowhere has been carried to such perfection, there are many fine specimens, both in form and delicacy of pattern, as there are likewise of the variety called reticelle. Among the latter is a tall covered cup with snakes on the cover and in the stem; there should also be noticed a drinking glass, in the stem of which is enclosed a half sequin of the DogeFrancesco Molino, 1647.
‘Of unquestionably ancient French glass but few specimens are known. This adds much to the value of a goblet in the collection, with enameled portrait of JehanBoucauand his wife Antoinette, made about 1530.
‘German glass is fully represented: the earlier specimens are richly decorated with enamel, chiefly heraldic devices; they are dated 1571, 1572, &c. A few are painted like window glass, and among them is a cylindrical cup, dated 1662, on which is depicted the procession at the christening ofMaximilian Emmanuel, afterwards Elector of Bavaria. The later German specimens are engraved, and some of them by artists of note. Of ruby glass, another productionfor which Germany was famed, there are good specimens; one bears the cypher ofJohn George IV, Elector of Saxony, another that ofFrederick the First.Kunckel, to whom these glasses are attributed, was successively in the service of both princes.
‘Though glass was early made in Flanders, the most ancient specimens in the collection under this head have been regarded as Venetian glasses decorated in the Low Countries. If made at Venice, they must, from certain peculiarities of form, have been designed for the Flemish and Dutch markets. The ornaments are etched, and contain allusions to the political events of the country: for instance, the arms of the seventeen provinces chained to those of Spain, and dated 1655; a portrait ofPhilip IV;William IIof Orange; his wife,Mary of England;Olden Barneveldt, &c. Some of the later specimens are engraved on the lathe in a very ornamental manner, and others delicately stippled. One of the latter bears the name of F.Greenwood, and others are attributed toWolf.
‘In English glass the collection is not rich, the difficulty of identifying such specimens being very great; some of them are referred to the works at Bristol, which produced ornamental glass about a century ago.
‘Some valuable additions to the collection of glass have been received from the Executors of Mr.Slade, purchased by them out of funds set aside for the purpose. They are nineteen in number, and among them may be especially noticed a very fine Oriental bottle with elaborate patterns in gold and enamel, together with figures of huntsmen, &c. It may be referred to the fourteenth century, and was formerly in the possession of a noble family at Wurzburg. Two specimens of Chinese glass, dated in the reign of the EmperorKien-Lung, 1736–1796; and several ancient Flemish and Dutch glasses.
Franks, as above.
‘By the acquisition of theSladeCollection the series of ancient and more recent glass in the British Museum has probably become more extensive, as well as more instructive, than any other public collection of the kind, and it will afford ample materials for study both to the artist and the antiquary.
‘In addition to his collection of glass, Mr.Sladehas bequeathed to the Museum a small series of carvings in ivory and metal work, from Japan, which are full of the humour and quaintness which characterise the art of that country.
‘He has likewise bequeathed to the Museum such of the miscellaneous works of art in his possession as should be selected by one of his Executors, Mr.Franks. The objects so selected are not numerous, but include some valuable additions to the National Collection.
‘Among them may be noticed the following:—Two very beautiful Greek painted vases, œnochoæ with red figures of a fine style; these were two of the gems of theDurandandHopeCollections successively; also a fine tazza, with red figures very well drawn, formerly in theRogersCollection. Two red bowls of the so-called Samian ware, with ornaments in relief; one of them was discovered near Capua, the other is believed to have been found in Germany; an antique hand, in rock crystal, of which a drawing by SantoBartoliis preserved in the Royal Library at Windsor, and a small Roman vase of onyx; a panel, probably from a book cover, a fine example of German enamel of the twelfth century, from thePreauxCollection; a very fine flask-shaped vase of Italian majolica, probably of Urbino ware, and representing battle scenes; three elegant ewers, one ofthem made at Nevers, another of Avignon ware, and the third probably Venetian—all three are rare specimens; an oval plate of niello work on silver, and a silver plate engraved in the style ofCrispin de Passe; three early specimens of stamped leather work, commonly termed cuirbouilli;|Franks, as above.|a tile from the Alhambra, but probably belonging to the restorations made to that building in the sixteenth century.
‘The value of Mr.Slade’sbequest is considerably increased by a very detailed and profusely illustrated catalogue of the Collection which, having been prepared during his lifetime, will be completed and distributed, according to his directions.
‘Since theCracherodebequest, which formed the nucleus of the British Museum Print Collections, no acquisition of the kind approaches the bequest of Mr.Sladein rare and choice specimens of etchings and engravings, wherein nearly every artist of distinction is represented. The collection comprises rare specimens of impressions from Nielli and prints of the School of Baldini; fine examples of some of the best productions of Andrea Mantegna, Zoan Andrea Vavassori, Girolamo Mocetto, Giovanni Battista del Porto, Jean Duvet, Marc Antonio, with his scholars and followers, the master of the year 1466;|G. W. Reid, in Parliamentary Returns of 1869.|Martin Schongauer, Israel van Meckenen, Albert Dürer, Lucas van Leyden, Hans Burgmair, Lucas Cranach, Matheus Zazinger, the Behams, Rembrandt, Vandyck, Adrian Ostade, Paul Potter, Karl du Jardin, Jan Both, N. Berghem, Agostino Caracci, Wenceslaus Hollar, Cornelius Visscher, Crispin and Simon de Passe, S. à Bolswert, Houbraken, L. Vorsterman, Jacques Callot, Claude Mellan, Nanteuil, George Wille, Faithorne, Hogarth, L. A. B. Desnoyers, F. Forster, Sir R. Strange, William Woollett, Porporati,Pefetti, Pietro Anderloni, Raphael Morghen, Giuseppe Longhi, Garavaglio, and others. There are also some rare English portraits and book-illustrations.
The specimens of printing and binding in the Slade Collection.
‘The specimens of binding from theSladeCollection (now placed in the Printed Book Department), continues the Report of 1869, are twenty-three in number, chiefly of foreign execution, and afford examples of the style ofPadeloup,Dusseuil,Derome, and other eminent binders. One of the volumes, an edition ofPaulus Æmylius,De gestis Francorum(Paris, 1555, 8vo), is a beautiful specimen of the French style of the period, with the sides and back richly ornamented in the Grolier manner. An Italian translation of the works of Horace (Venice, 1581, 4to), is of French execution, richly tooled, and bears the arms ofHenry IIIof France. A folio volume of theReformation der Stadt Nürnberg(Frankfort, 1566), which is a magnificent specimen of contemporary German binding, formerly belonged to the EmperorMaximilian the Second, whose arms are painted on the elegantly goffered gilt edges. An edition ofPtolemy’sGeographicæ Narrationis libri octo(Lyons, 1541, fol.) affords a fine illustration of the Italian style of about that date. The copy of a French translation ofXenophon’sCyropædia, by Jacques deVintemille(Paris, 1547, 4to), appears to have been bound for KingEdward VI, of England, whose arms and cypher are on the sides, while the rose is five times worked in gold on the back.|T. Watts, inReturns, as above.|A volume of BishopHall’sContemplations on the Old Testament(London, 1626, 8vo), in olive morocco contemporary English binding, has the Royal arms in the centre of the sides, and appears to have been the dedication copy of KingCharles the First.’ It is proposed, concludes theReport, to exhibit some of the most beautiful specimens comprised in Mr.Slade’svaluable donation, in one of the select cases in the King’s Library.
Mr.Sladealso bequeathed three thousand pounds for the augmentation, by his Executors, of his Collection of Ancient Glass, and five thousand pounds to be by them expended in the restoration of the parish church of Thornton-in-Lonsdale.
Von Siebold and his Japanese Collections of 1823–8.
PhilipVon Sieboldwas born at Wurtzburg, in February, 1796, and in the university of that town he received his education. He adopted the profession of medicine, but devoted himself largely to the study of natural history. In the joint capacity of physician and naturalist, he accompanied the Dutch Embassy to Japan in the year 1823. He was a true lover of humanity, as well as a lover of science. Many Japanese students were taught by him both the curative arts, and the passion for doing good to their fellow-men, which ought to be the condition of their exercise and practice. He won the respect of the Japanese, but his ardent pursuit of knowledge brought him into great peril.
In 1828 he was about to return to Europe, laden with scientific treasures, when he was suddenly seized and imprisoned for having procured access to an official map of the Empire, in order to improve his knowledge of its topography. His imprisonment lasted thirteen months. At last he was liberated, and ordered to do what he was just about to do when arrested. (Siebold, says his biographer,kam mit der Verbannung davon.) But his banishment was not perpetual. In 1859, he returned. He won favour and employment from the then Tycoon. He returned to his birthplace in 1862, and died there in October, 1866.
Of his second library, Mr.Wattswrote thus:—‘The collection of Japanese books was one of two formed by Dr.Von Sieboldduring his residence in, and visits to, Japan. The first of these collections, which is now at Leyden, and of which a catalogue was published in 1845, was long considered as beyond comparison the finest of its kind out of Japan and China; but the second, now in the Museum, is much superior. That at Leyden comprises five hundred and twenty-five works, that in London one thousand and eighty-eight works, in three thousand four hundred and forty-one volumes. It contains specimens of every class of literature: cyclopædias, histories, law-books, political pamphlets, novels, plays, poetry, works on science, on antiquities, on female costume, on cookery, on carpentry, and on dancing. It abounds in works illustrative of the topography of Japan, as, for instance, one, in twenty volumes, on the secular capital Yeddo, and two, in eleven volumes, on the religious capital Miaco; collections of views of Yeddo and of the volcano Fusiyama, &c. &c. There are also several dictionaries of European languages, testifying to the eagerness with which the Japanese now pursue that study. The Museum was already in possession of a second edition of an English dictionary published at Yeddo in 1866, in which the lexicographer,Hori Tatsnoskay, observes in the preface, “As the study of the English language is now becoming general in our country, we have had for some time the desire to publish a pocket dictionary of the English and Japanese languages, as an assistance to our scholars,” and adds that the first edition is “entirely sold out.” These dictionaries may now assist Europeans to study the language of Japan, and it is believed that the Japanese Library now in the Museum will afford unequalled opportunities for the study of its literature.’
This was the last sentence in the last official report which Mr.Wattslived to write, for the purpose of beinglaid before Parliament. He died on the ninth of September, 1869, at the age of fifty-nine. His post was not filled up until the end of December, when he was succeeded by Mr. William BrenchleyRye, who was then Senior Assistant-Keeper in the Department of Printed Books. Mr.Ryeis well known in literature. He has edited, with great ability, several works of early travel for the useful ‘Hakluyt Society,’—an employment which he has often shared with his friends and Museum colleagues Messrs. WinterJonesand Richard HenryMajor, and with like honourable distinction in its performance. More recently, he has increased his reputation by a book which has been largely read, and which well deserves its popularity—England as seen by Foreigners. This work was published in 1865.
CHAPTER VII.RECONSTRUCTORS AND PROJECTORS.
CHAPTER VII.RECONSTRUCTORS AND PROJECTORS.
‘What do we, as a nation, care about books? How much do you think we spend altogether on our Libraries, public or private, as compared with what we spend on our horses? If a man spends lavishly on his Library, you call him mad,—a Bibliomaniac. But you never call any one a Horse-maniac, though men ruin themselves every day by their losses, and you do not hear of people ruining themselves by their books. Or, to go lower still, how much do you think the contents of the bookshelves of the United Kingdom, public and private, would fetch, as compared with the contents of its wine-cellars.’—
Ruskin,Sesame and Lilies, pp. 75–77.
Ruskin,Sesame and Lilies, pp. 75–77.
Ruskin,Sesame and Lilies, pp. 75–77.
Ruskin,Sesame and Lilies, pp. 75–77.
The various Projects and Plans proposed, at different times, for the Severance, the Partial Dispersion, and the Rearrangement, of the several integral Collections which at present form‘The British Museum.’
Grosley’s idea of severing the Museum Collections, 1765.
The first reconstructor, in imagination, of the British Museum on the plan of severing the literature from the scientific collections, was a speculative and clever Frenchman, Peter JohnGrosley, who visited it within less than six years of its being first opened to public inspection.Grosleyexpressed great admiration for much that he saw, and he also criticised some of the arrangements that seemed to him defective, with freedom but with courtesy. Some of my readers will probably think that he hit a real blot, at that time, when he said: ‘The Printed Books are the weakest part of this immense collection. The building cannot contain such a Library as England can form and ought to form for the ornament of its capital. It has a building quite ready in the “Banquetting-House” [at Whitehall], and that building could be enlarged from time to time as occasion might require.’
Other writers, at various periods, have advocated the severance of collections which seemed to them too multifarious to admit of full, natural, and equable development, in common. There is perhaps no apparent reason, on the surface, why a great Nation should not be able to enlarge the most varied public collections as effectively, and as impartially, within one building, as within half a dozen buildings. Nor does there seem to be any necessary connection between the wise and liberal government of public collections, and their severance or division into many buildings, rather than their combination within a single structure. Nevertheless it is certain that many thinkers have, by some process or other, reached the conclusion that severance would favour improvement.