The British Museum announced on Wednesday that it will receive a donation of 1,700 valuable Chinese ceramic pieces, estimated to be worth around 1 billion pounds ($1.27 billion), making it the largest donation in the museum’s nearly 300-year history.
The collection, which has been on loan to the museum since 2009, comes from the Percival David Foundation.
Notable items from the collection include the famous blue-and-white “David vases” from 1351, a delicate porcelain wine cup from the late 15th century known as the “chicken cup” (one of the most coveted pieces in Chinese art), and rare “Ru wares,” which date back to the late 11th century.
George Osborne, chair of the British Museum, called the donation “the largest bequest in our long history,” adding that it represents a significant vote of confidence in the museum’s future.
With this donation, the British Museum will house one of the most significant collections of Chinese ceramics outside of the Chinese-speaking world, now totaling 10,000 pieces.
Percival David, born in 1892, was a British businessman whose deep interest in China led him to study the language and collect Chinese ceramics. His collection focused mainly on imperial-quality items and pieces that reflected traditional Chinese aesthetics.
British arts minister Chris Bryant expressed that the collection would “educate and enlighten future generations for many years to come.”
The British Museum announced that it would lend some of the ceramics to the Shanghai Museum in China and the Metropolitan Museum in New York to support exhibitions at both institutions.
Porcelain production began in China around AD 600, and Chinese porcelain is considered the most advanced in the world. The ceramic pieces in this collection were created for various purposes, including for the imperial court, domestic use, and export.