Plymouth Museum’s collections go out ‘On Tour’ across the South West and beyond - The Box, Plymouth

By: Jo Clarke
Added: 10 January 2017

Selected highlights from Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery’s permanent collections are going out ‘On Tour’ to a range of venues while its building is closed for the development of the History Centre.

While the bulk of the collections have been packed and moved to a secure offsite store so building and construction work can begin, some key items have gone out on loan.

Items from the Museum’s historically significant Plymouth Porcelain collection can now been seen in an exhibition called ‘Passion for Porcelain – Elegant Charm from China Clay’ at the Wheal Martyn Heritage Centre near St Austell.

The exhibition, which is on display until summer 2017 focuses on the important role Cornwall played in the development of British porcelain. It also explores the ground-breaking discovery made by William Cookworthy in the 1700s in making true hard-paste porcelain. Devon-born Cookworthy was a chemist who had an apothecary on Notte Street, Plymouth. He went on to set up England’s first-ever porcelain factory in the Sutton Harbour area of the city.

Meanwhile, archaeological treasures from the Museum’s collections can be viewed in an exhibition called ‘Finding Prehistory’, now on display at Dartmoor National Park’s award-winning visitor centre in Princetown.

The exhibition, which will remain on display until the end of 2018, includes stone tools, ceramic urns and flint implements from the Bronze Age and shines a light on the lives of the people who lived on Dartmoor thousands of years ago.

“Loaning our collections to other venues while our building is closed is great for us in more ways than one,” said collections manager, Louisa Blight. “It’s providing the public with access to some of our most important and best-loved objects and works of art. It’s also enabling us to develop and work in partnership with a range of different organisations – partnerships which I’m sure we’ll continue in the future.”

Other collections ‘On Tour’ include an Egyptian statuette of a seated goddess with the head of a lioness in ‘Animal Mummies Revealed’ at Liverpool’s World Museum until 26 February. The exhibition explores the background and practices associated with ancient Egyptian animal mummies, which were prepared in their millions as votive offerings to the gods.

‘Green Devon’ by Robert Polhill Bevan can be seen on display at the Museum of Somerset, Taunton from 25 March to 8 July. This popular painting is included in an exhibition about the Camden Town Group – an Edwardian artists’ collective that became famous for their realistic works of everyday life.

More than 100 Plymouth Porcelain items will then go on display at Kingsbridge Museum from 27 March to 28 October in a new exhibition called ‘William Cookworthy: Pioneer of Porcelain’.

To stay up to date with the Museum’s ‘On Tour’ programme and find out more about all its offsite activities visit www.plymhearts.org

To find out more about the History Centre project visit www.plymouth.gov.uk/loveourpast or watch the latest videos on YouTube.

Ends

Notes for editors:

For more information, photographs or interview opportunities call or email

Jo Clarke
Marketing & Communications Officer
T +441752306228
E jo.clarke@plymouth.gov.uk