British Museum members’ evening

Late night opening for members at the British Museum with a focus on the current Ming exhibition.

I had not been to one of these before but found that a friend was a member so we decided to go together. We were shocked at first by the huge queue to get in but the people soon diluted as they spread into the vast space of the museum. Many headed to the next queue to get exhibition tickets but we decided we could do that any time so headed to the members room and a glass of wine to make a plan of action.

We went to an excellent lecture by Yu-Pong Luk, the projector curator of Ming, who talked us through the history of the period the exhibition focuses on using the objects from the show. She also outlined the three main points they had hoped to make, the importance of the Ming princes in running regional courts, the Mongol legacy in the styles and China’s engagement with the outside world in this period.  I had already seen the exhibition but felt this added to what I had seen.

We then went to a drop in session on paper making in China where a lady gave a fascinating overview of how and why paper changed in this period and how it was made. We then crossed the room to an object handling table with mainly African and South American ethnographic items. I loved the jangling necklace for a donkey so you know where it is.

Dinner called and we headed out but we agreed we’d certainly do it again now we know the routine.

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