Treasures of the British Museum

The British Museum is the most magnificent tresure-house in the world. The wealth and range of its collections is unequalled by any other national museum. The Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles, Egyptian mummies, Boticelli and Michelangelo drawings, Assyrian reliefs, the Lewis Chessmen and the Sutton Hoo Treasure are all to be found here. In this superb book Marjorie Caygill reveals and delights in the intriguing stories behind these treasures and many more. <br /><br />Illustrated with 145 colour and 150 black and white photographs, this is both a valuable record of a unique institution and a fascinating keepsake for visitors.<br /><br /><i>Contents</i><br /><br />Preface<br />Introduction by the Director, Sir David Wilson<br /><br />TREASURE<br />1. Treaure trove<br />2. The treasure of the river Oxus<br />3. Turquoise mosaics from the Aztec Empire<br /><br />BURIED CIVILIZATIONS<br />4. Amelia Edwards and the Egypt Exploration Society<br />5. Excavations at Nimrod<br />6. The Rosetta Stone and the decipherment of hieroglyphs<br />7. The fourth-century Hinton St Mary mosaic pavement<br /><br />SCULPTURE<br />8. The bust of Ramesses the Great and Giovanni Belzoni<br />9. The Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal<br />10. The Townley Collection of classical sculpture<br />11. "Hindoo" Stuart and the bridge collection of Indian sculpture<br />12. The Bodhisattva Tara<br />13. Hoa-Haka-Nana-Ia ("Breaking Wave"): A statue from Easter Island<br />14. The "Roubiliac Shakespeare" and the actor David Garrick<br /><br />VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY<br />15. Captain James Cook<br /><br />TEMPLES AND TOMBS<br />16. Death in Egypt<br />17. The discovery of the Royal Cemetery at Ur<br />18. Canon Greenwell and the "Folkton Drums"<br />19. The Rillaton Gold Cup<br />20. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus: One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World<br />21. Lord Elgin and the sculptures of the Parthenon<br />22. The monument of Julius Classicianus, Procurator of Britain<br />23. The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial<br /><br />POTTERY AND PORCELAIN<br />24. The Godman Collection of Islamic Pottery<br />25. The Addis Gift of Chinese Pottery<br />26. The Cleopatra Vases<br /><br />THE ART OF THE CRAFTSMAN<br />27. The Portland Vase<br />28. The Hull Grundy Gift of Jewellery<br />29. The twelfth-century Lewis Chessmen<br />30. Clocks and watches<br />31. The Malborough Gold Ice Pails<br />32. Mrs. Delany´s Flower Mosaics<br /><br />THE COLLECTIONG PASSION<br />33. Sir Hans Sloane: Founder of the British Museum<br />34. The retiring collector: The Reverend Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode<br />35. John Malcolm of Poltalloch: Collector of Old Master Drawings<br />36. Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks: Victorian Polymath<br />37. Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild and the Waddesdon Bequest<br /><br />The departments of the museum and their collections<br />The history of the British Museum<br />Photographic acknowledgements<br />Bibliography<br />Index