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

Victoria and Albert Museum

Victoria & Albert Museum
Cromwell Road
South Kensington
LONDON SW7 2RL

Contact for all enquiries about Holocaust or WWII Spoliation:
Lucy Wood.
Tel 020-7942-2299.
Fax 020-7942-2678

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF COLLECTION

Collections cover all branches of fine and applied arts and represent all major artistic traditions of Britain, Europe, Asia and North Africa. The Museum has eight Collections Departments, six of which are material based: Ceramics and Glass; Furniture and Woodwork; Metalwork; Prints, Drawings and Paintings; Sculpture; and Textiles and Dress. Two are defined by the cultures they represent: Indian and South-East Asian, and Far Eastern. The V&A also includes the National Art Library, the Theatre Museum, The National Museum of Childhood, and the Wellington Museum at Apsley House. The Prints, Drawings and Paintings collection includes the national collection of portrait miniatures, the national collection of British watercolours, the national collection of architectural and design drawings and the art of photography. It also holds British and foreign oil paintings, Old Master drawings, historic and modern prints, posters and graphics, and wallpapers. The V&A holds the national collections of furniture and woodwork, sculpture, silver, jewellery and metalwork.

1. OVERALL PLANS

A Areas which could contain looted items
. Ceramics and Glass Dept
. Far Eastern Dept
. Furniture & Woodwork Dept
. Indian and South-East Asian Dept.
. Metalwork Dept.
. National Art Library
. Prints, Drawings and Paintings Dept
. Sculpture Dept.
. Textiles and Dress Dept
. Theatre Museum

B Areas excluded and why;

General
. Acquisitions pre-1933; Just over 50% of electronically logged records (i.e. 270,193 of 537,160 records covering all 3D collections and c. 89,000 Prints, Drawings and Paintings records) pre-date 1933. The balance of pre-1933 items within the 1,111,000 items of the PDP collection has yet to be calculated as those acquisitions were recorded manually.
. The National Art Library's 1.5m records for the pre-1933 period, are in the course of being converted to electronic format.
. The Theatre Museum (total c.1.1m items) pre-1933 acquisitions have still to be calculated.
. Items created after 1945.

Ceramics and Glass
Fragments , as they have little or no market value. Some major collections acquired by the Museum in or after 1933, which were entirely formed in the UK before that date and similar smaller collections.

Far Eastern Dept.
. Items with a known provenance excluding them from further scrutiny. Many of these were collected at source in either China, Japan or Korea.
. Items which had no prestige value and low monetary value. This encompasses most textiles, dress and accessories, lacquer, metalwork other than bronzes, furniture and household utensils, small carvings, ceramic fragments, prints, folk craft, export art, artefacts made between 1933 and 1945

Furniture and Woodwork Department
Since 1933, the Furniture Department has made about 3,480 acquisitions (i.e. individual items with the 'W' prefix). Of these, about 340 have been made since 1945. The search through our records has concentrated on pieces of furniture regarded as a works of art and not as chattles between 1933 and 1945.

English Furniture.
Before World War II, English Furniture was much less sought after by Continental Europeans than French 18th century or Italian Renaissance pieces. Virtually all the English furniture acquired by the Museum before and after 1933 has English provenances, and the possibility that English pieces were acquired as a result of Nazi spoliation is remote.

Art Nouveau/ Jugendstil/ early 20th century German pieces.
During the period 1933-45 such furniture would have been regarded as little more than chattels, or at best symbols of pre -World War I avant-garde designs that had become somewhat passé.

Pieces with private English provenances.

Indian and South-East Asian Dept.
1. Objects made after 1945.
430 items of Bombay film ephemera and packs of Indian playing cards.
160 works by mid- to late 20th century Indian artists.
541 other objects known to have been made in the Indian subcontinent
between the mid-1940s and 1999.

2. Objects with well documented provenances indicating that they were collected in India or South-East Asia or have been in this country since before the 1930s.
61 paintings forming the P.C. Manuk and Miss G.M. Coles Bequest (1949)
202 pieces of Malaysian metalwork forming the E.S. Wilkinson Bequest
(1949), published by Ling Roth in 1910.
397 paintings forming the Gayer-Anderson collection (early 1950s).
166 textiles forming the G.P. Baker collection (1950s).
157 paintings forming the J.C. French collection (1950s), collected c.1918-20.
150 textiles, paintings, sculptures, etc. bought from the Executors of Mrs
Lory, acquired by her late husband in India.
96 terracottas forming the Col. D.H. Gordon Bequest (1961).
52 items of arms and armour forming the Kitchener Bequest (1964), collected
before the Great War.
52 textiles from the Church Missionary Society, collected in India.

3. Objects of low market value 1933-45.
Kalighat paintings
Ethnographic material and costume

National Art Library
The vast majority of the archives can be excluded because they either fit the general catalogue of exclusions or have been:-
1 Given to the Museum by either the creator of the archive or a family member.
2 Created in the UK by a UK company or resident and never left the
country.

Prints, Drawings and Paintings
Items of insignificant or no market value in Continental Europe during the period 1933-1945.
Items with apparently continuous provenance in Britain.
Items acquired as new.
These include:-
. British portrait miniatures, drawings and watercolours, unless by artists of acknowledged European significance.
. British illustrations and 'fine art' prints, unless by artists of acknowledged European significance.
. Reproductive prints, photographs, posters and wallpaper.
. 20th century prints, except 'Degenerate Art'.
. Engraved ornament, architectural and design drawings, unless by artists of acknowledged European significance and plausibly in the 'old master' category.
. Items of comparatively low market value (assessed as £50 in 1933-60; £250 in 1960-75; £500 in 1975-90; £1,000 in 1990-2000).

Sculpture Department
Items with apparently continuous provenance in Britain. All items with self-evident continuous provenance in Britain Items of insignificant or no market value in Continental Europe during the period 1933-1945. Plaster cast and electrotype reproductions.

Textiles and Dress Department
.Items of dress and accessories, unless of exceptional importance, or of a type perceived since earlier this century as being collectable, eg painted fans. In the pre-1945 period dress items were not normally considered works of art and so fall outside the remit of the survey.
. Textile samples and fragments, of low financial value.
. Items acquired as new in the period 1933-1945

Theatre Museum
. Items of insignificant or no market value in Continental Europe during the period 1933-1945.
. Items with apparently continuous provenance in Britain.
. Items acquired as new.
. These include:-
. Oil paintings, drawings and watercolours, prints, posters, photographs
. Designs, costumes, properties, scenic cloths, stage equipment, puppets
. Paper documentation including programmes, reviews, archives
. Library books, texts, manuscripts
. Video and sound recordings

C Target areas and timetable for research.

Ceramics and Glass
Collections which should be looked at with priority because of the value of the objects and the likelihood that such objects were collected in pre-war Germany & occupied countries, are:
. German & Austrian porcelain
. Italian Maiolica
. Spanish Lustrewares
. Sèvres porcelain
. Venetian & façon de Venise glass (minus Buckley)
. Limoges & German & Austrian enamels
. German stone- and earthenware
. Central European glass (up to C19th, minus Buckley)

To be considered at a later stage:
. Stained glass (non-British)
. Other European porcelain
. Other European earthenware
. Other European glass (pre-C19th, minus Buckley)
. Islamic material

Far Eastern Dept.
. High prestige and high value items acquired since 1933, directly or indirectly, from mainland European sources
. A few exceptions to the 'areas excluded' items which for singular reasons need further research

Indian and South-East Asian Dept.
Works of high value
1. Mughal miniatures
2. Indian and South-East Asian sculpture
3. Metalwork and jewellery
3. Furniture
4. Works on paper
5. Textiles

To be considered at a later stage:
Other items acquired since 1933 from European sources or through dealers and without clear provenance back to India or south east Asia.

National Art Library
Medieval illustrated manuscripts and Livres d'artiste, and early-Twentieth century design archives of European origins. Three archives require further investigation -:
. Maison Arnold: archives date from 1900-1925; Paris based company; purchased from Libraire Leonce Laget in 1984.
. Carpet, Rug and Wallpaper designs: date from 1905-1925, thought to have been executed in Belgium; purchased from Christian Verbeke in 1984.
. G Riom: date c. 1900; Floral designs; name suggests European origin?; purchased from Christian Verkeke in 1984.
. British and Foreign Oil paintings which have no provenance or uncertain provenance for all or part of the period between 1933 and their acquisition by the museum. - these being the most likely object of spoliation.
. Old Master drawings, Non-British 20
. Illuminated manuscripts and fine bindings have now been searched.

Prints, Drawings and Paintings
Collections which should be looked at with priority because of the value of the objects and the likelihood that such objects were collected in pre-War Germany & occupied countries:

Oil paintings (done)
. European miniatures and British portrait miniatures by artists of acknowledged European significance (acquisitions made between 1933-65 have been checked).
. British drawings and watercolours by artists of acknowledged European significance (acquisitions made between 1933-65 have been checked).
. Old master and nineteenth century European drawings, leaves and cuttings from illuminated manuscripts (acquisitions made between 1933-65 have been checked).
. 'Degenerate Art' drawings (acquisitions made between 1933-65 have been checked)
. Architectural and design drawings by artists of acknowledged European significance; plausibly in the category of 'old master drawings' (acquisitions made between 1933-65 have been checked)

To be considered at a later stage:

'Degenerate Art' prints
. 'Old master' and fine art prints
. Other prints, and engraved ornament etc. by artists of acknowledged European significance; plausibly in the category of 'master prints'

Sculpture
. All items acquired between 1933 and 1950 70 have been checked

Textiles and Dress Dept
Tapestries, embroidered hangings, and carpets and Jewish textiles.

Theatre Museum
The Theatre Museum provides the national record of performance in Britain. Its collections comprise documentation in various forms, the vast bulk of which is of comparatively low value and native in origin. A survey of the Paintings Collection - less than 100 works - using the Catalogue of Paintings at the Theatre Museum, London (V&A 1992), confirmed that their sitters, artists and provenances are with very few exceptions British, with a comparatively market value below the limits set for spoliation purposes (assessed at £50 in 1933-60, £250 in 1960-75; £500 in 1975-90; £1,000 in 1990-2000).

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

General
Much British manufactured material because of the lack of provenance or strong British provenance or non-unique character.

Ceramics and Glass
British Ceramics and glass. It is not likely that there was much British ceramic and glass material in pre-1933 collections in Germany or the occupied countries.

Far Eastern Dept.
. High prestige and high value items acquired through dealers and auction houses in the UK and USA

Indian and South-East Asian Dept.
Works of low value that may fall within the appropriate time-frame.

Prints, Drawings and Paintings Dept
Prints and British drawings and watercolours for the same reasons given above. These will be more easily reviewed once the entire collection of Paintings, Prints and Drawings has been digitally recorded.

Textiles and Dress Dept
. Medieval textiles
. Ecclesiastical textiles
. Furnishings (apart from those in the higher priority category above)
. Fans
. Decorated/presentation items eg embroidered book bindings

Until the second half of the 20th century the relatively low financial value of these items makes them less likely subjects for spoliation.

Theatre Museum
The 1.1M items held by the Theatre museum have still to be checked, but it is anticipated that the post-1933 collections will be excluded because of the predominantly British provenance of the material.

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

Ceramics and Glass Dept

A. Process and sources for initial checks from information readily to hand
Checking provenance using internal records , from categories detailed above.

Far Eastern Dept.

A. Process and sources for initial checks from information readily to hand
Initial identification of items in the target areas. This encompasses paintings, archaic bronzes, jade, sculpture, ceramics and swords.

B. Description of checks being carried out beyond desk research
General ongoing research outside the museum on the history of the Far Eastern collections. Particularly, we are looking at copies of Ostasiatische Zeitschrift, the leading Asian art journal published in Germany, for clues as to value and taste at the period under scrutiny.

Furniture and Woodwork Dept
. Painted Italian Cassoni or Sgabello chairs.
The V & A's collections of Italian Renaissance Furniture were almost all acquired long before 1933, and those acquired since have English provenances.

. French and German Furniture, 18th/ early 19th century.
The bulk of Continental furniture came to the V & A in 1882, having been part of the collections of John Jones. Pieces acquired since 1933 have come through distinguished collectors like Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, FSA. or the Earl of Rosebury (viz. the Mentmore sales in more recent years). Most Empire furniture of a post 1933 acquisition date came from the Lady Abindgon (and ultimately Lord Stuart to Rothesay) collections.

The most important German pieces in our collections (the Augustus Rex Cabinet, Würzburg Cabinet, Maiz Cabinet and even the Axel Springer Secretaire) were either acquired in the 19th century or have good English provenances. (The Dresden lacquer cabinet was acquired by Axel Springer in England in 1977 and had formerly been at Longleat).

With these factors in mind, the research concentrated on F & W and former Circulation Department acquisition books and relevant RPs. List of items of uncertain provenance can be found in Appendix A.

Indian and South-East Asian Dept.

A. Process and sources for initial checks from information readily to hand
Elimination of all works created after 1945 or collections with strong provenances, ie collected in India/South East Asia and with continuous provenance until acquired by the Museum; identifying collections or items from European sources or acquired though dealers and without continuous provenance back to collection in India/South-East Asia, using internal records and the Collections Information System. Provenance research also continues across the collection as part of ongoing documentation work.

Metalwork
Upward of 500 Hildburgh objects have been checked.
All Judaica acquired from 1933 onwards has been listed.

National Art Library

A. Process and sources for initial checks from information readily to hand
Checking provenance using internal sources, from categories detailed above.

Prints, Drawings and Paintings Dept.

A. Process and sources for initial checks from information readily to hand
Whenever possible checking internal records and archives for additional evidence to establish provenance.

B. Description of checks being carried out beyond desk research
19 items with uncertain provenance during the 1933-1945 period have been checked against official publications of spoliated items by the Art Loss Register

Sculpture

A. Process and sources for initial checks from information readily to hand
Checking provenance records for all items acquired since 1933 using internal records .

Textiles and Dress Dept.

31,000 objects under the department's care were found to meet the criteria of date of creation pre -1945 and date of acquisition post-1933. Those objects which fell into the categories listed at 1:B above were excluded from the need for further research, and others whose secure provenance was known were also excluded. Low priority objects were identified, for which research on provenance would take place at a later stage. The list of high priority objects was drawn up, and research on the provenance of each object was undertaken.

3. INFORMATION REGARDING PROGRESS IN TARGET AREA

Ceramics and Glass dept.

A No. of items in target area.
942 initially.
Research ongoing.
This first target area in which we will be checking provenance is Italian Maiolica (tin-glazed earthenware) acquired by Ceramics and by Circulation Departments since 1933. The list consists of 136 museum numbers.

Far Eastern Dept.

A No. of items in target area.
Not yet ascertained

B No. of items where provenance has been tested satisfactorily
Eumorfopoulos Collection (1935) of Chinese paintings, bronzes, jade, sculpture and ceramics (upwards of 300 pieces)

19 Chinese jades from various donors.

C No. of items where initial checks on provenance are still being made from internal sources and information readily to hand
Nos. of jades, sculpture, ceramics and swords not yet ascertained

D No. of items for which initial research can be taken no further and additional information is being sought
The following target items have no mainland European provenance noted in internal V&A sources:
60 Chinese paintings
16 Archaic Chinese bronzes
27 Chinese jades

The following items have a mainland European provenance. They fall into the second category noted under target areas:

192 Chinese textiles deriving from Switzerland and Amsterdam

Indian and South-East Asian dept.

Research ongoing. 2,464 items acquired since 1933 excluded. About 6,000 defined as low priority.

Metalwork, Silver & Jewellery

A No. of items in target area.
Not yet ascertained

D No. of items for which initial research can be taken no further and additional information is being sought from external sources
33 items of Judaica and other items given by Dr. Hildburgh (see list in appendix A)

National Art Library

A No. of items in target area.
Three archives, illustrated manuscripts and livres d'artiste.
Research ongoing. 130 illuminated manuscripts checked. 400 fine bindings checked

B No. of items where provenance has been tested satisfactorily
All apart from 1 illuminated manuscript and 2 fine bindings

Prints, Drawings and Paintings dept.

A No. of items in target area.
The Provenance records of 2,400 Oil Paintings have been checked.
The Provenance records of Old master and nineteenth century European drawings, leaves and cuttings from illuminated manuscripts, and miniatures, 'Degenerate Art' drawings, British portrait miniatures, drawings and watercolours by artists of acknowledged European significance, Architectural and design drawings by artists of acknowledged European significance; plausibly in the category of 'old master drawings' have been checked for the period 1933-1965.

B No. of items where provenance has been tested satisfactorily
All, apart from 32 paintings and icons, and 38 drawings and miniatures acquired between 1933-65.

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

D No. of items for which initial research can be taken no further and additional information is being sought from external sources
32 paintings and icons, and 38 drawings and miniatures acquired between 1933-65. (See List at Appendix 1.)

One work in this list (A portrait of a young girl by a follower of Van Honthurst) shares similarities with a work listed in the Art Loss Register.

Sculpture

A No. of items in target area
2,915

B No. of items where provenance has been tested satisfactorily
635 736

C No. of items where initial checks on provenance are still being made from internal sources and information readily to hand.
2,280 2,179

D No. of items for which initial research can be taken no further
303 (see list at appendix 1)

Textiles and Dress Dept.

A number of objects in target area
282 tapestries, embroidered hangings and carpets; 43 Jewish textiles, 96 painted fans

B number of items where provenance has been tested satisfactorily
255 tapestries, embroidered hangings and carpets; 43 Jewish textiles. 26 painted fans.

C number of items where initial checks on provenance are still being made
Nil

D number of items for which initial research can be taken no further
27 (see list at appendix 1), 70 painted fans (see list at appendix 1)

4. INFORMATION ON MAKING GENERAL ENQUIRIES OR ABOUT COLLECTIONS

A Contact for all enquiries about Holocaust or WWII Spoliation
Lucy Wood. Tel 020-7942-2299. Fax 020-7942-2678

B Details of Published catalogues and how to get access to them

Paintings Prints and Drawings.
Published catalogues are available for some parts of the collection (foreign oils, British oils 1820-1860, Italian Old Master Drawings), and microfiche catalogues have been published for other discrete areas (British Watercolours, portrait miniatures, the Searight Collection). There is also a microfiche catalogue of the complete Print Room artistic catalogues (published 1993). At present only general collection information is available on the Website.

C Archives
The archives of the Victoria & Albert Museum, which are public records, are held mainly in the V&A Archive, a sub-section of the National Art Library at the V&A. Dating from 1837, the archives document the history of the V&A and its predecessors, including the Government School of Design and the South Kensington Museum; together with its branches and departments, including the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood, the National Art Library, the Theatre Museum and the Wellington Museum at Apsley House. Alongside core minutes, reports and other policy records are some 60,000 correspondence files, many of which record the acquisition, loan and disposal of objects, and the planning of V&A exhibitions, from 1864 to date. Some central and departmental inventories are also available, including those of the former Circulation Department. Photographs, posters, newspaper cuttings and other ephemera supplement the Museum's administrative records. Some collection-related archives are also held by individual curatorial departments, and enquirers researching particular objects or areas of the collections may write in the first instance to the relevant curatorial department for advice and access to documentation.

Access to the V&A Archive is by appointment in the Archive Reading Room at Blythe House, near Olympia, London W14, on Tuesdays to Thursdays, 10.00am to 4.30pm.
For enquiries and bookings, contact the Museum Archivist,
V&A Museum Archives, Blythe House, 23 Blythe Road, London W14 0QX;
tel: 020 7602 8832; fax: 020 7602 0980
e-mail: archive@vam.ac.uk

D How to make enquiries about collections
To Senior Chief Curator (as above).

E Press office contact
Press office Tel 020-7942-2503 Fax 020-7942-2494

F Address of institution
Victoria & Albert Museum
Cromwell Road
South Kensington
LONDON SW7 2RL

G Website
http://www.vam.ac.uk