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Maidstone Museum is a local authority-run museum located in Maidstone, Kent, England, featuring internationally important collections including fine art, natural history, and human history. The museum is one of three operated by Maidstone Borough Council. The building is listed building.
The eastern elevation was extended in 1889 to accommodate the Bentlif Art Gallery funded by Samuel Bentlif to house the art collection amassed by his brother, George. On the western side, the Victoria Gallery, housing the town's library, was built between 1897 and 1899 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The Bentlif Wing was extended in 1923.
The local history collections are varied and relate to all areas of local life. There are collections of weapon and armour, horology and a collection of over 18,000 numismatics and . The collection of photographs and is of local importance and is complemented by over 10,000 items of printed ephemera relating to the history of Kent. The museum also owns the second volume of the Lambeth Bible, a giant Romanesque art illuminated bible from the 12th century (the first volume is in the Lambeth Palace library).
There are internationally important collections of artefacts of Pacific Rim, Oceania and African ethnography as well as diverse material from Asia and North America and South America. Napoleon's chair has been held in the museum since 1866. It was one of a pair in the house of Reverend Richard Boys on St Helena, and after Napoleon was exiled there in 1815 he habitually sat in this chair, conversed with Boys and damaged the chair with his penknife while talking.
The ceramic art holdings form the most significant collection in the region with around 700 English pieces as well as around 250 European pieces. The collection of Chinese ceramics, mostly of 17th to 19th century date, is comprehensive. Approximately 8,000 specimens of costume date from the 17th to 21st century. Complementing needlework collections comprise around 700 specimens, including English embroidery and samplers, European embroidery and Far East textile arts.
The Japanese collections of fine art and decorative arts material are important and amongst the most studied in the country. They include ceramic art, katana fittings, netsuke, Lacquerware and Japanese books as well a series of over 750 Edo period (1600–1868) woodblock prints.
580 include minor continental and 19th to 20th century British works. Watercolours include over 200 works by Albert Goodwin, the largest public collection of his work and local artist James Jefferys.
The bird collections include 1,800 taxidermy British specimens, 400 foreign birds and over 1,100 cabinet skins. There are also 300 bird nest and a collection of oology covering most species on the British list. The Herbarium contains approximately 30,000 specimens representative of the flora of the British Isles. There is also a British collection of some 6,000 specimens of critical genus including Rubus, Taraxacum and Hieracium. The Herbarium collection is the basis of Philp's Atlas of the Kent Flora. There is an entomology collection of around 250,000 specimens forming a comprehensive collection of British ; and an important collection of several thousand exoskeleton, mainly of tropical marine origin, but including Temperateness marine and freshwater, and tropics terrestrial species.
The collections of palaeontology and are of national importance, with biological type, cited and figured specimens; the plants including voucher specimens for Kent and the nationally important Hawkweed (West) Collection. The main strengths of the palaeontology are the marine Cretaceous and Tertiary period of Kent, especially Chalk, Lower Greensand and Lenham Beds; but also Gault Clay and London Clay. There is an extensive collection of Pleistocene vertebrate material and from the Kent coalfield. Rocks (46,000) and (7,000) are represented on a worldwide scale. The museum contains one of the most comprehensive mineral collections in the country outside the .
Collections
The Museum is recognised as having the largest mixed collections in the county and one of the most important in the south-east of England, outside London. Whilst its origins are typical of a regional museum created through Victorian era munificence, the work of collectors, staff and benefactors over almost 150 years has created a comprehensive collection of worldwide significance. Numismatist Elizabeth Pirie worked on the collections from 1957 to 1960. The collections consist of over 600,000 artefacts and specimens. Three collections are of national importance:
Human history
The Human History collections contain approximately 125,000 artefacts. The British archaeology collection covers Kent and beyond; the internationally recognized Anglo-Saxons collection comprises approximately 4,000 artefacts. Foreign archaeology includes pieces such as the Gandhara heads and over 400 Ancient Egypt artefacts. The Egyptian collection is home to the mummified remains of Ta-Kush a woman who was born in what is now Sudan before being buried in Egypt in the second half of the 7th century BC. A new acquisition in 2009 was the kernos from Milos in Greece; it is early Cyclades III period and 4000 years old. There are only eight of these in the world, and this one was possibly used to hold various offerings, such as honey and oats.Information from exhibit label
The arts
The fine art and applied art collections comprise approximately 25,000 items. They include 17th to 19th century furniture, musical instruments, toys and games, ceramic art, glass, and needlework, , printmaking and and sculpture. One exhibit beloved of the local people is the Lady Godiva statue by John Thomas (1813–1862).
Natural history
A collection of around 450,000 specimens in the natural history section includes specimens of national and international significance.
Regimental Museum
The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment Museum, an independent charitable trust, has been housed in the Museum since 1964 and forms one of Maidstone Museum's fifteen public galleries. Its collection of memorabilia features over 3,000 medals, including four .
External links
Categories: Musical Instrument Museums In England, Museums In The Borough Of Maidstone, Art Museums And Galleries In Kent, Egyptological Collections In England, Decorative Arts Museums In England, Natural History Museums In England, Fashion Museums In The United Kingdom, Local Museums In Kent, Archaeological Museums In England, Museums Established In 1858, 1858 Establishments In England, Maidstone Borough Council, Buildings And Structures In Maidstone
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