Discover the British Museum ’s rich collection of Japanese art in a talk by Dr Rosina Buckland, Curator of Japanese Collections. The talk is the second instalment of a series of four lectures held in partnership with Royal Collection Trust, exploring how Japanese art and design has been collected and exhibited in the UK across the ages.

Dr Rosina Buckland explores the long history of collecting Japan at the British Museum, from its founding collection in the early 1700s to the present day. She shows how the collection has grown steadily thanks to the contributions of various individuals, across a range of media including paintings, prints, ceramics, netsuke, metalwork, Buddhist material and contemporary art. Later, the speaker explains how the curatorial team showcases a changing selection of works in the Mitsubishi Corporation Japanese Galleries.

The Japanese Collection of the British Museum continues to grow, with several notable acquisitions in recent years introduced during the presentation. The talk closes with a brief examination of items demonstrating the high level of woodworking skills in Japan, as seen in the Museum’s collection, in relation to the current exhibition at Japan House, The Carpenters’ Line.

About the speaker

Dr Rosina Buckland received a BA degree in Japanese Studies from the University of Cambridge and a PhD degree in Art History from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Her publications include Shunga: Erotic Art in Japan (2010) and Painting Nature for the Nation: Taki Katei and the Challenges to Sinophile Culture in Meiji Japan (2013). Having worked at the British Museum, the National Museum of Scotland, and the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, in 2020 she returned to the British Museum as Curator, Japanese Collections. She recently submitted the manuscript for a textbook on Japanese arts of the Meiji era and is preparing for an exhibition examining the representations and myths of the samurai.

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This talk is the second in a series of four events held in collaboration with Royal Collection Trust. Events in the series are to be held at both The Queen’s Gallery and Japan House London and explore how Japanese art and design has been collected and exhibited in the UK across the centuries. The talks are given by leading academics and curators from key institutions with major Japanese collections.