An Analysis of Reports by The Illustrated London News (ILN) and The Graphic against Social Activities in Malaya in the 19th Century

Unlike in the West, the emergence of visual printing and printing press in Malaya was comparatively lagged behind. Publication and printing reached the Malayan shore through the Straits Settlements after the first publication was brought in and introduced by A. B. Bone in 1806. Since then, various visual reports regarding Malaya made their way into the well-known newspapers in Britain, The Illustrated London News (ILN) and The Graphic. Social activities in Malaya became part of the main visual report in these newspapers. Nonetheless, it was found that these newspapers were not objective in reporting the news on social activities in Malaya. In lieu of this, the current research attempted to find out the extent of the action of ILN and The Graphic in manipulating visual news report about the social activities in Malaya in the 19th century. In addition, this research also aimed to find out how far the ideas and thoughts of both newspapers in describing the news reports related to social activities in Malaya in the 19th century. This research focuses on the 19th century, within the specified period, of which the two respective presses released many visual news reports regarding social activities in Malaya. The qualitative method and visual approach were chosen as the research itself was conducted in London, especially at the National Art Library, situated in the Victoria and Albert Museum. In Malaysia, materials and resources were obtained from the Malaysian National Archive, National Museum, National Library, and libraries at higher learning institutions.

Third Report on the Publication and Conservation of the Tomb of Ramesses III in the Valley of the Kings (KV 11)

Since antiquity, the tomb of Ramesses III (KV 11) has been among the most frequently visited royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. It was also one of the first to be described and documented in detail by European travellers in the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries. As large parts of the wall decoration of the tomb, especially in its rear, are now destroyed, the drawings, notes and squeezes of those early researchers who saw the site in its former splendour offer an invaluable resource for the reconstruction of the tomb’s unique decoration programme. The collection, revision, and publication of all relevant archive material concerning KV 11 is an important goal of The Ramesses III (KV 11) Publication and Conservation Project. The following article reports on first and preliminary results from the authors’ research in the archives of the British Library and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, as well as the Bodleian Libraries and the Griffith Institute in Oxford, carried out in September 2019 and made possible through the Centenary Award 2019 of the Egypt Exploration Society.

Protocol for the Analysis of Cross-Sections from Gilded Surfaces

This paper describes the protocol currently used at the Victoria and Albert Museum for the scientific analysis of water, oil and lacquer gilding in cultural heritage objects. The purpose of the protocol is to guide scientists, curators and conservators in their routine investigations, and address questions about the characteristics of gilded surfaces, their number, sequence, date, composition and stratigraphic details. Each protocol step is described in detail and is accompanied by practical examples taken from the analysis of an 18th-century Chippendale table and the 20th-century statue of the Spirit of Gaiety. The merits of individual analytical techniques and equipment are also evaluated.

Teaching and Research in Colonial Bombay

Bombay did not play the kind of administrative nodal role that first Madras and later Calcutta did in terms of overarching governance in the Indian subcontinent, occupying instead a pivotal position for the region’s commerce and industry. Nonetheless, the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Bombay were a formative age for education and research in science, as in the other Presidencies. A colonial government, a large native population enrolled in the new European-style educational system, and the rise of several institutions of instruction and learning, fostered an environment of scientific curiosity. The Asiatic Society of Bombay (1804), which was initially the hub of research in all disciplines, became increasingly antiquarian and ethnographic through the course of the nineteenth century. The Victoria and Albert Museum (conceived in 1862 and built by 1871 and opened to the public in 1872), was established to carry out research on the industrial arts of the region, taking for its original collections fine and decorative arts that highlight practices and crafts of various communities in the Bombay Presidency. The University of Bombay (1857) was primarily tasked with teaching, and it was left to other establishments to conduct research. Key institutions in this regard included the Bombay Natural History Society (1883) given to local studies of plants and animals, and the Haffkine Institute (1899), which examined the role of plague that had been a dominant feature of the social cityscape from 1896. The Royal Institute of Science (1920) marked a point of departure, as it was conceived as a teaching institution but its lavish funding demanded a research agenda, especially at the post-graduate level. The Prince of Wales Museum (1922) would prove to be seminal in matters of collection and display of objects for the purpose of research. All of these institutions would shape the intellectual debates in the city concerning higher education. Typically founded by European colonial officials, they would increasingly be administered and staffed by Indians.

Non-Invasive Technical Investigation of English Portrait Miniatures Attributed to Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver

This study presents the results of the technical investigation carried out on several English portrait miniatures painted in the 16th and 17th century by Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver, two of the most famous limners working at the Tudor and Stuart courts. The 23 objects chosen for the analysis, spanning almost the entire career of the two artists, belong to the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) and the Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge). A non-invasive scientific methodology, comprising of stereo and optical microscopies, Raman microscopy, and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, was required for the investigation of these small-scale and fragile objects. The palettes and working techniques of the two artists were characterised, focusing in particular on the examination of flesh tones, mouths, and eyes. These findings were also compared to the information written in the treatises on miniature painting circulating during the artists’ lifetime. By identifying the materials and techniques most widely employed by the two artists, this study provides information about similarities and differences in their working methods, which can help to understand their artistic practice as well as contribute to matters of attribution.

Food design és digitalizáció

A vonatkoztatási rendszer, amelybe a vállalás – egy food design elméleti áttekintés és projektbemutatás – be kíván illeszkedni, a negyedik ipari forradalom, illetve az Ipar 4.0. A cikk röviden bemutatja az Ipar 4.0 fogalmát és főbb kérdéseit. Majd válogatott food design projekteket vizsgál egyrészt a különböző direkt (Francesca Zampollo) vagy indirekt (Victoria and Albert Museum) klasszifikációs k kísérletek szerint, másrészről társadalmi és gazdasági relevanciájú megközelítésekből (élmény, kritikai jelleg, fenntarthatóság). Az elméleti, spekulatív jellegű kutatás új szempontrendszert kínál a digitális forradalom, az élelmiszeripar és a food design számára.

The digitization of photographic albums at the Victoria and Albert Museum and other London-based cultural institutions

This thesis investigates current digitization approaches to photographic albums by surveying the practices at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England alongside three other London-based institutions: the British Museum, British Library, and National Portrait Gallery. It highlights the value in researching and recording these documentation methods as an integral yet often overlooked part of museums’ institutional history. For contextual background for the survey, a brief history of photographic albums and their inherent conservation issues is presented along with albums’ digitization guidelines and a discussion of how digitization influences our relationship to the original object. The types of digitization methods employed at each institution is then examined to understand how curatorial and technical factors influence the digitization process and to observe the trends across the four institutions. A case study was performed at the Victoria and Albert Museum of a photographic album being digitized and is included in the appendices.

The digitization of photographic albums at the Victoria and Albert Museum and other London-based cultural institutions

This thesis investigates current digitization approaches to photographic albums by surveying the practices at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England alongside three other London-based institutions: the British Museum, British Library, and National Portrait Gallery. It highlights the value in researching and recording these documentation methods as an integral yet often overlooked part of museums’ institutional history. For contextual background for the survey, a brief history of photographic albums and their inherent conservation issues is presented along with albums’ digitization guidelines and a discussion of how digitization influences our relationship to the original object. The types of digitization methods employed at each institution is then examined to understand how curatorial and technical factors influence the digitization process and to observe the trends across the four institutions. A case study was performed at the Victoria and Albert Museum of a photographic album being digitized and is included in the appendices.