British Museum given £1bn of Chinese ceramics

The British Museum is to be given Chinese ceramics worth £1bn in what is believed to be the highest-value gift received by a UK museum.

The addition of the items from the Sir Percival David Foundation will also make the museum's stock of the antiques one of the most important outside of the Chinese-speaking world.

Some of the donated items date from the third to 20th Century.

Museum director Dr Nicholas Cullinan said the objects would offer visitors and researchers "the incredible opportunity to study and enjoy the very best examples of Chinese craftsmanship anywhere in existence.”

The 1,700 items, which have already been on long-term loan to the museum since 2009, were collected by Indian-born British businessman Sir Percival David, who lived from 1892 to 1964.

He collected the items - mostly of imperial quality - in Europe, Japan, Hong Kong and China.

The move will bring the museum's collection of Chinese ceramics to 10,000 pieces.

Items in the collection include vases from 1351 which revolutionised the dating for blue and white ceramics with their discovery, as well as a cup decorated with a chicken that was used to serve wine for the Chenghua emperor in the 1400s.

Dr Cullinan added: “I am humbled by the generosity of the trustees of the Sir Percival David Foundation in permanently entrusting their incomparable private collection to the British Museum."

The foundation said Sir Percival wanted his private collection to be on public display to inspire and educate future generations.

Final transfer of the ownership of the items is subject to the Charity Commission's consent.

After the donation, pieces are set to be lent to the Shanghai Museum in China and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

The government's arts minister Sir Chris Bryant said: "I am immensely grateful for this phenomenal act of generosity and very much hope it will help set a trend for others.”