Agatha Christie, Assyrian treasure and face-cream conservation

The British Museum has decided to put on a small exhibition next week about some rather unusual objects, or at least objects with an unusual story to tell.  They have been in the museum since being purchased for £1.2million 25 years ago, but have never before been on display.

The objects are a series of ivories from the Assyrian city of Nimrud, excavated in the 1940’s by Max Mallowan, the second husband of Agatha Christie.  The tiny, gilded figures, originally made to decorate furniture, are miniature masterpieces of sculpture, and still bear some traces of the gilding and jeweled inlay that originally adorned them.  Some even still carry the signs of burning that signal the demise of the city 2,600 years ago.

Images from www.britishmuseum.org

Sadly (should that even be criminally?), the ivories that remained in Iraq appear to have been damaged during the Iraq war – either trampled in the looting of the museum or, with horrific irony, damaged by flooding of the bank vault they had been taken to for protection.

But no tale of (vaguely) antiquarian archaeological discovery would be complete without an element of weirdness.  In this instance, it’s the rather unusual conservation methods employed by Christie herself.  In her autobiography she writes,

“I had my own favourite tools ... an orange stick, possibly a very fine knitting needle - one season a dentist's tool which he lent, or rather gave me, and a jar of cosmetic face cream, which I found more useful than anything else for gently coaxing the dirt out of the crevices without harming the friable ivory. In fact there was such a run on my face cream that there was nothing left for my poor old face after a couple of weeks!”

Maybe I can persuade our museum conservators to try out the face cream technique – it doesn’t seem to have done the ivories any harm!  If only she’d left us the name of the brand she used, we could have got a great sponsorship deal…

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National Museum of China reopens

The National Museum of China reopened to the public this week, following a three and a half year renovation which cost an eye-watering 2.5 billion RMB (about 234 million pounds). Actually, the current 'soft opening' is for tour groups only.  Normal tourists will be able to go in after the official reopening on April 1st.

The museum, known in Chinese as the 中国国家博物馆 (Zhongguo guojia bowuguan), is an iconic structure in Beijing, occupying one side of Tiananmen Square.  See the official website here.

The museum was constructed in 1959, to commemorate the 10^th anniversary of the coming to power of the Chinese Communist Party.  It was actually an amalgamation of two museums – the Museum of Chinese History and the Museum of the Chinese Revolution.  These two subjects still form the basis of the new exhibitions, though the display space has nearly tripled in size to include 49 display rooms, including spaces dedicated to accepting temporary displays from Asia, Africa, Europe and America.

The collections have also expanded, with more than 390,000 objects from other museums transferred to bring the total up to 1.05 million.  Beijing is claiming that this is now the world’s biggest museum, though such statistics in the museum world are rarely quantifiable and little more than meaningless PR soundbites.  Museums should be judged on what they do with their collections and the difference they can make to the lives of their audiences rather than on numerical object counts or floor area.  What is certain is that this is a collection, and an institution, that will expect to have an impact on the world stage.  Major initial opening exhibitions with loans coming from Germany and Peru clearly mark that ambition.

It is expected that visitor figures will rise to three times those the previous museum saw – with 8 to 10 million domestic and international visitors expected per year.  The basic museum will be free to enter, with some special exhibitions charged for – a standard business model for national museums in England.

As with other recent Chinese museum projects, I fully expect the renovation to look stunning – the Chinese museum industry has proved that when it comes to throwing money at things to make them look good, it needs no lessons from anybody.  As for the interpretation of the displays, and whether the narrative is a fair reflection of history, or a biased ‘party line’, I will reserve judgement until I am able to visit and see for myself, which hopefully won’t be too far in the future.

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Lincoln City v Accrington Stanley, 5 March 2011

Venue: Sincil Bank, Lincoln

Attendance: 2,868

Final score: 0-0

Accrington Stanley.  Who are they?  Sorry, couldn’t help myself.  I’m sure Accy fans never get tired of hearing it…

I have to confess I quite like Accrington (the team, not the place necessarily) - one of those smaller clubs who have come up into the league and made a comfortable home there.  Maybe not excelling, but not failing either, and certainly not making any enemies along the way.  It’s always a pleasure to welcome them to Sincil Bank.

Accy are one place and one point above the Imps, but have played 2 games less.  Interestingly, the BBC preview for this game described Accrington as promotion chasing and City as fighting to avoid relegation – amazing what a difference a point makes!

The game began pretty much as it would continue – slow, disjointed and, to be honest, rather dull.  Grimes had the first real shot of the game on 10 minutes, but could only fire straight at keeper Cisak.

After 18 minutes, a half chance fell for Accrington’s Proctor, but he could only weakly shoot well wide from just inside the box.

As the half went on, the two sides mostly cancelled each other out, but the pattern of Accrington having most possession with Lincoln happy to try and attack on the break emerged.  In reality, neither side looked like having the quality to break down the other - both seemed happiest to simply avoid losing

Following City’s first corner on 34 minutes, McCallum tested Cisak for the first time, forcing the keeper to turn a rasping drive around the post from wide on the edge of the box.  In turn, poor play from City on the halfway line gave the ball away to Accrington, and the ball was fed wide to Craney.  His cross found Ryan, who fluffed his lines completely even though he was unmarked.

The halftime whistle brought some relief from the tedium of a match that seemed destined to peter out in a goalless draw, or be decided by a defensive howler rather than a piece of skill.

The second half continued in much the same fashion.  City started on the attack, but a Stanley break on 51 minutes saw a shot flash just past the post, though probably covered by Carson had it been on target.

The next goalmouth action occurred in the 65^th minute when Accrington striker Craney held off Adam Watts before curling a shot just past the post.

As the clock continued to tick, the home crowd’s frustrations began to grow, especially as Accrington began to look more like the side that would break the deadlock.

As it was, City had the best of the few remaining chances.  First McCallum had a volley on 82 minutes that was scuffed, but fell to O’Keefe, who saw his shot go wide.  Soon after, Fuseini put a long range shot into the side netting.

Although Accrington ended the game with the ball around the City box, the final whistle couldn’t come soon enough for the bored and increasingly cold crowd.

Ultimately, City’s problems seem to stem from the lack of a good midfield pairing to win and distribute the ball.  Fuseini, it seems to me, is not at the races at all and vanishes from games.  Neither he nor O’Keefe are the sort of tough tackling player required, especially since Scott Kerr departed for York.

LINCOLN CITY
24 Trevor Carson
16 Julian Kelly
4 Adam Watts
6 Danny Hone
23 Stephen Hunt
14 Josh O'Keefe
31 Ali Fuseini
7 Mustapha Carayol
9 Gavin McCallum
18 Delroy Facey
29 Ashley Grimes

Substitutes:
27 Ben Hutchinson for Grimes (74)
2 Paul Green
19 Jamie Clapham
25 Cian Hughton
39 Scott Spencer
40 Patrick Kanyuka
1 Joe Anyon

ACCRINGTON STANLEY
1 Alex Cisak
3 Dean Winnard
12 Phil Edwards
4 Sean Hessey
26 Joe Jacobson
14 Luke Joyce
6 Andrew Procter
7 Jimmy Ryan
8 Charlie Barnett
24 Terry Gornell
27 Ian Craney
Substitutes:
11 Sean McConville for Barnett (H/T)
10 Ray Putterill for Ryan (77)
5 Kevin Long
9 Craig Lindfield
17 Peter Murphy
23 Tom Smyth
25 Ian Dunbavin

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Lincoln City v Oxford United, 1 March 2011

Venue: Sincil Bank, Lincoln

Attendance: 2,261

Final score: 3-1

Lincoln and Oxford come into this rearranged fixture on the back of defeats at the weekend – City 4-2 at the hands of Barnet and Oxford 2-0 to Hereford.  Oxford occupy the better league position, however, sitting in 9^th place and just a point off the bottom playoff spot.

Oxford started the game more brightly, the ball spending more time in the Imps’ half than anywhere else, yet it was the Imps that took an early lead.  McCallum’s cross found O’Keefe, whose shot deflected onto the post, but the City midfielder had followed up well to tap the rebound home.

The game continued in scrappy fashion, with the ball pinging from end to end, but with neither keeper really tested.  City had a penalty appeal for handball waved away on 20 minutes.  The Imps were forced into an early change on 22 minutes when Howells pulled up holding his leg.  He was replaced by Mustafa Carayol.

On the half hour, City came close to extending their lead when Grimes got the ball in the centre circle, and threaded a good pass out wide to Facey.  The burly striker showed his pace and strength to get level with the 18 yard box before crossing low to Grimes, the striker’s powerful first time shot just missing the top corner.

On 40 minutes the visitors were level.  A fairly innocuous shot into the body of City keeper Carson somehow bobbled loose, and MacLean made no mistake in punishing the error.  It seems that Carson is either making fine fingertip saves and penalty saves recently, or making schoolboy howlers.  The Imps were hoping that they were not to be punished for giving away such a simple equalizer.

Oxford started the second half better, obviously buoyed by their goal.  After only 5 minutes, hesitancy and an inability to clear the ball saw Asa Hall given a chance to shoot, which he fortunately blasted over.

The game soon returned to it’s scrappiness of the first half, with neither side able to assert themselves, and a draw looking increasingly likely.  That was until a bizarre 5 minutes which turned the game.

On 63 minutes, Facy hooked the ball into the box, only to see Harry Worley’s attempted clearance slice into the top corner of his own net.  The crowd took a second to register what had happened, as there seemed to be no pressure on Worley.  Strangely though, City stadium announcer Alan Long announced the goal as being scored by Facey!

If that own goal was a piece of comedy, then to see a similar thing happen just 4 minutes later was simply hilarious.  Carayol tricked his way past his marker to get the ball to the touchline, and drilled a hard, low cross into the box.  This time it was Tonkin’s attempt to clear, but he instead executed an inch perfect chip over the despairing leap of Clarke to give the Imps a 3-1 lead.  It was a finish any striker would have been proud of.

City were more content to sit back as the game entered its final phase, and although Oxford had much possession, they were unable to really test Carson and the Imps easily held out for a valuable, if somewhat comically obtained, victory.

LINCOLN CITY
24. Trevor Carson
16. Julian Kelly
4. Adam Watts
6. Danny Hone
23. Stephen Hunt
14. Josh O'Keefe
31. Ali Fuseini
15. Luke Howell
9. Gavin McCallum
18. Delroy Facey
29. Ashley Grimes

Substitutes:
7 Mustapha Carayol for Howell (24)
27 Ben Hutchinson for Facey (81)
39 Scott Spencer for Grimes (89)
2 Paul Green
19 Jamie Clapham
40 Patrick Kanyuka
1 Joe Anyon

OXFORD UNITED
1. Ryan Clarke
2. Damian Batt
22. Harry Worley
6. Jake Wright
3. Anthony Tonkin
8. Simon Heslop
4. Paul Mclaren
14. Asa Hall
32. Steve MacLean
29. Tom Craddock
9. James Constable
Substitutes:
16. Simon Hackney for Craddock (74)
15. Alfie Potter for Hall (77)
10. Jack Midson for Maclean (81)
5. Djoumin Sangare
11. Simon Clist
28. Josh Payne
21. Simon Eastwood

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Old coins and dead Egyptians

It’s a funny old life being a museum curator.  I had a very long day in London the other day, getting up far too early to catch a train to get me to the British Museum for 9am.  The reason for this act of masochism was that I was attending a conference to celebrate the 150^th birthday of the department of coins and medals (though I didn’t even get them a card – I’m a terrible guest!)  I have to say that it was worth the effort, with some very good papers on the history of the department and some of the current projects being undertaken in the UK and abroad.  The updates on British projects such as the Portable Antiquities Scheme and the progress the BM is making on putting more of its collections online were particularly interesting.

One thing that did make me and a few provincial colleagues smile, though, was the way that some of the senior BM curators were criticising the lack of specialist numismatic posts in some museums, and highlighting how important it is that major research projects continue to be carried out.  It seemed to us that that view is slightly out of touch with the reality most museums are facing, when curators of huge collections and entire education and outreach departments are being culled en masse because of government cuts.  The luxury of specialist numismatic curators with the time and resources to carry out personal research projects is long gone, and the BM may do well to reflect how lucky they are to still have that role at all.

Having said that, it was a stimulating discussion, and I returned to Lincoln bursting with enthusiasm and ideas for new ways to get all of the people of Lincolnshire crazy about ancient coins.

While I was at the BM, I took the opportunity to go and see their latest exhibition – ‘Book of the Dead’.  Now, I have to confess that despite being a history buff, the Egyptians have always left me slightly cold – maybe it was the whole brain out of the nose thing when I was a kid?  Anyway, as a fully paid up, card carrying member of the Museums Association, I can get into the BM’s exhibitions for free, and I’m never one to pass up a freebie.

As I went round, I realised that the thoughts going round my head were the same as when I had visited the last few BM blockbuster exhibitions.  The objects are as wonderful as you’d expect them to be, the interpretation is informative and well planned and the dome of the reading room makes for a beautiful setting.  It should combine to make the perfect experience, but somehow it doesn’t.  The popularity of the exhibitions means that the visitor experience is poor.  For me, things like the large crowds in front of every case, being hit in the face by some tourist’s rucksack, having some screaming kid push past you the wrong way, or simply just having to stand and wait as you can’t even ignore a case and move on as the throng have created a bottleneck - all combine to just make me want to get through and out again as quickly as possible – and meaning that I take very little enjoyment or knowledge out of the experience.  I fail to see how anybody else could either.  It’s like an inverse ratio – as popularity increases, enjoyment for the individual visitor decreases.

I think a large part of the problem with this exhibition is that a lot of the objects are papyrus, meaning that you need to be close to them to get any sense of their detail.  The last BM exhibitions I really enjoyed were Hadrian and the Terracotta Warriors, and I think it’s no coincidence that they contained larger objects that could be appreciated from a distance.  If I could find a time to see this one when it was quiet, I’m sure I’d come away with a far better impression.

I actually went into ‘Book of the Dead’ twice.  My first visit was during lunchtime, but I tried again after the conference before my late train home, at about 7 o’clock in the hope it would be quieter.  It was actually worse – even more visitors and a child with some clacking toy that its parents evidently enjoyed the sound of.

Ultimately it’s hard to see how the BM can change it – getting lots of people to come to an exhibition is a sign of success, and lord knows the heritage industry in England at the moment needs every good bit of press it can get.  I just hope the hoards of other tourists didn’t feel as disappointed as I did, and will continue to come back again and again – if only they could keep away when I’m there…

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