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Spoliation reports

This institution also provides a list of works with incomplete provenance during the period 1933-1945.

BRITISH MUSEUM

British Museum
Great Russell Street
LONDON WC1B 3DG

Contact for all enquiries about Holocaust or WWII Spoliation:

Giulia Bartrum, Department of Prints and Drawings.
Tel +44 20 7323 8301
Fax +44 20 7323 8999

Email: gbartrum@britishmuseum.org

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF COLLECTION

The British Museum holds the national collection of antiquities, prints and drawings, ethnography and coins and medals.

1. OVERALL PLANS

A Areas which have been considered for the purposes of these plans

The departments in the British Museum are:

Prehistory and Europe
Coins and Medals
Middle East
Greek and Roman Antiquities
Africa Oceania and the Americas
Asia
Ancient Egypt and Sudan
Prints and Drawings

B Areas excluded and why;

Items acquired before 1933 and all items of British archaeological provenance; all material acquired directly from legitimate excavations or, in the case of non-European material, from the country of origin.  All items acquired since June 2006, from which date all donors, vendors and curators have been obliged to sign an Acquisition Form to demonstrate due diligence has taken place before an item is acquired by the British Museum.  This was introduced as a result of guidelines issued by the British government (Department of Culture, Media and Sport).

C Target areas and timetable for research

All departments are checking acquisition records from 1933 onwards.

The Department of Prints & Drawings targeted Old Master Drawings as being the area of most likely interest to potential claimants. The entire collection of just over 52,000 drawings, with provenance history where it is known, has been entered on the museum's database and is accessible online. Details of former owners and dealers have been investigated where possible.   A check of the manuscript acquisition registers for the years 1933 - 45 has  been made. These registers list about 27,000 items, with details of prices paid and names of dealers or owners (but very few addresses) from whom objects were acquired.  Invoices from these years have not been kept. This check did not yield sufficient information to warrant further research.

D Areas considered a lower priority (as distinct from excluded) and why

The majority of approximately 2 million items held in Prints and Drawings (excluding the Wharton-Tigar collection of about 1 million cigarette cards) are prints and most are of low value. The process of entering prints onto the Museum's database is a long way from completion. As prints are multiples, it is not possible to identify any particular impression from a written description without supporting physical evidence. The collection of just over 32,500 British drawings and watercolours is considered low priority because the vast majority of items never departed from the UK; they were acquired directly from the artists or their agents, or from English dealers or collectors.

2. RESEARCH CARRIED OUT OR BEING CARRIED OUT IN TARGET AREAS.

Prints and Drawings

A Process and sources for initial checks from information readily to hand

Details of former owners and dealers contained in the records of  Old Master drawings have been checked.

Most drawings acquired since 1933 have no recorded owner beyond the vendor or donor to the Museum. The prime evidence consists of collectors' marks, but the majority of these are eighteenth or nineteenth century in origin. For the majority of drawings - as for prints - there is nothing recorded beyond the name of the dealer or owner from whom it was acquired. The Department does have one group of around 1,470 drawings from the Phillipps-Fenwick collection presented by Count Antoine Seilern and the National Art Collections Fund in 1946; these have a direct line of English ownership back to the nineteenth-century portrait painter, Sir Thomas Lawrence and were therefore, excluded from the investigation. Drawings with an unclear provenance during 1933-45 and formerly in the possession of those mentioned on the Office of Strategic Services lists in Washington, are reported here. All old master drawings in the collection with no ascertainable provenance for the 1933-45 period are listed  on the British Museum website: http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/news_and_press_releases/statements/world_war_ii_provenance.aspx

 

B Description of checks being carried out beyond desk research

Checks were made in foreign sale catalogues and with various institutions including photographic art libraries, in order to verify dates of ownership on those drawings which were singled out for further research.

Coins and Medals

A Process and sources for initial checks from information readily to hand

Acquisitions of some 75,000 coins and medals made between 1933-86 have been checked. The British Museum is satisfied with the provenances of these items.  It must be noted that coins and medals are mass-produced items, and a large percentage of them are base metal and of very little commercial value. They are very difficult to trace through the market. Extensive pedigrees are normally available for a small proportion of numismatic items, eg. Anglo-Saxon coins, Renaissance medals and classical rarities. Many coins can be accounted for from recent hoards, either directly, or via sales or specialist collectors. These factors, combined with general patterns of departmental acquisition, greatly reduce the possibility that there might have been any material acquired from inappropriate sources of the period 1933-45.  

Middle East

A Process and sources for initial checks from information readily to hand

Provenance records are being checked for the names of dealers etc. who were known to be active during the 1930s - 1940s. Research on 3,700 items in the target area has been carried out.

B Description of checks being carried out beyond desk research

Additional research has been carried out on all items acquired from the late Dr Manfred Cassirer and his father Dr Erich Cassirer, because the name Paul Cassirer appears on the Office of Strategic Services 1940-46 lists. No reasonable grounds for suspicion have been found and no evidence that either was connected with this Paul Cassirer. 

Prehistory and Europe

A Process and sources for initial checks from information readily to hand

The database for the collection of pre-historical and early European items is not good enough to facilitate a search for former owners, although a specific check has been carried out on the Wellcome collection (acquired in 1964) of some 3 500 - 4 000 Iron and Bronze Age items.

Other collections acquired since 1932 have been or will be scrutinised, other than the following three categories: material excavated after 1945 which was acquired directly from its source; material found after 1945 with known findspots; objects made after 1945. Areas prioritised for research include such continental antiquites as Italian Renaissance maiolica, horological and scientific instrument collections (of which 5899 have been checked) and early medieval antiquities. See below for reports on a maiolica jar from the Pringsheim collection, which was sold in London in 1939 and a group of clocks from the collection of Ida Netter.

B Description of checks being carried out beyond desk research

Additional research has been carried out on the provenances of Italian renaissance maiolica which are currently being catalogued.

Greek and Roman Antiquities

A Process and sources for initial checks from information readily to hand

Acquisition data from registers and reports to Trustees have been checked.

Africa Oceania and the Americas

A Process and sources for initial checks from information readily to hand

Departmental donors have been checked against the Office of Strategic Services 1940-46 lists and this has been followed up by checks in departmental registers, focussing on high value items thought to have been collected during the relevant period.

Department of Asia

A Process and sources for initial checks from information readily to hand

Some research has taken place on the South and South-East Asian Collections; further research is dependent on the availability of volunteers.

Egyptian Antiquities

A Process and sources for initial checks from information readily to hand

Internal acquisition records have been checked.

B Description of checks being carried out beyond desk research

None found to be necessary.

3. INFORMATION REGARDING PROGRESS IN TARGET AREAS

Prints and Drawings

A No. of items in the target area

Almost 6,000 Old Master drawings have been acquired since 1933. Further research was done on 43 drawings of major importance; those with remaining gaps in their provenance for 1933-45 are listed here in the spoliation report for the BM.

B No. of items where initial checks on provenance are still being made from internal sources and information

A list of all Old Master drawings with gaps in their provenance during the 1933-45 period has been compiled. It is available for consultation in the Department of Prints and Drawings by prior appointment, and can be viewed on the British Museum website mentioned above see no. 2A.

Further research will be undertaken in response to specific enquiries.

C No. of items for which initial research can be taken no further and additional information is being sought from external sources.

Twelve drawings (see Appendix 1) without evidence of legal ownership between 1933-45 and with names of former owners on the OSS list emerged from the initial search. There are therefore, two reasons for according this group priority.

Coins and Medals

Research will be undertaken in response to specific enquiries.

Middle East

The acquisition registers have been checked and entered on the museum's collections database which will be made freely available through the British Museum website by the end of 2008.

Prehistory and Europe

The provenance of all items acquired since 1933 has been checked  and all information about the collections will be available on the on-line database by the end of 2008. A catalogue containing detailed information and provenance history of 500 pieces of maiolica is to be published in D.Thornton and T. Wilson, 'Italian Renaissance Ceramics', British Museum Press, autumn, 2008. 

Greek and Roman Antiquities

A No. of items in the target area

21,937

B No. of items where provenance has been tested satisfactorily

21,869

C No. of items where initial checks on provenance are still being made from internal sources and information

0

D No. of items for which initial research can be taken no further and additional information is being sought from external sources.

68 - forming 3 Lots. (See above Section 2 )

Africa Oceania and the Americas

A No. of items in the target area

The whole collection, approximately 250,000 items.

B No. of items where provenance has been tested satisfactorily

All of the above.

Egyptian Antiquities

A No. of items in the target area

1,104

B No. of items where provenance has been tested satisfactorily

1,104

4. INFORMATION ON MAKING GENERAL ENQUIRIES OR ABOUT COLLECTIONS

A. Contact for all enquiries about Holocaust or WWII Spoliation

Giulia Bartrum, Department of Prints and Drawings.

Tel 020-7323 8301
Fax 020-7323 8999

B. Details of published catalogues and how to get access to them

There are many published catalogues, of which are available in the Study Room of the Department of Prints and Drawings, or through the public reference library at the British Museum, The Paul Hamlyn library.

C. Archives

The official archives of the British Museum consist of the administrative records of the Museum's Trustees and Directors which have been selected for permanent preservation for their evidential, administrative or research value. These are public records, date from the Museum's foundation in 1753 to the present day and illuminate every aspect of the Museum's official activities including the meetings of its Trustees, its acquisitions, administration, finance, buildings, staff, exhibitions, publications and excavations. Curatorial and administrative departments in the Museum retain their own records. These are also public records but, as yet, do not have archival status.

Access to the Central Archive of the British Museum is by appointment. Requests for access to departmental records should be sent to the Keeper(s) of the department(s) concerned.

Further information is available from:

The Museum Archivist, Stephanie Clarke, The British Museum, London WC1B 3DG

Telephone: +44 207 323 8224

Email: librariesandarchives@britishmuseum.org

 

D. How to make enquiries about collections

General information about the collections, current activities and forthcoming exhibitions can be obtained from the MuseumWebsite or from the Information Desk, Tel +44 20 7323 8599. The Study Room of the Department of Prints and Drawings is open every weekday 10am - 1pm, 2.15 - 4.pm.  All visitors are required to produce identification.

E. Press office contact

Hannah Boulton

Tel +44 207 323 8522
Email: hboulton@britishmuseum.org  

F. Address of institution

The British Museum
Great Russell Street
LONDON WC1B 3DG

G. Website

http:www.britishmuseum.org