Museums and Institutions

A vast collection of ivories from The Sir Victor Sassoon Chinese Ivories Trust will be going on display at the British Museum after it acquired the collection earlier this year.

The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge has acquired a marble sculpture of Queen Victoria by Sir Alfred Gilbert (1854-1934) after raising the required £1.01m to prevent it from export.

A painting of a game of bowls by John Singer Sargent previously in the collection of the late A Alfred Taubman has sold to the National Trust’s Ightham Mote, the manor house in Kent depicted in the picture.

The tercentenary of renowned furniture maker Thomas Chippendale’s birth in Yorkshire this week is the catalyst for activities and exhibitions this year across the UK.

Lamps designed by surrealist artist Salvador Dalí have been blocked from export in the hope a buyer can be found to pay £440,000 to keep them in the UK.

Two Attic black figure vases that formerly belonged to Lucien Bonaparte, the younger brother of Napoleon, were acquired by the Louvre from an auction held at Drouot in Paris by Pierre Bergé et Associés (PBA).

More details and a launch date have emerged for the Victoria and Albert Museum’s new Photography Centre.

A database of Egyptian and Nubian antiquities has been launched by the British Museum after it was awarded a government grant of nearly £1m.

A painting thought to be a copy of a Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) portrait when it was deaccessioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art will now be offered at Christie’s in London with a full attribution. It will carry an estimate of £3m-5m.

Sotheby’s has negotiated the private sale of a still life by Juan de Zurbarán (1620-1649) to the National Gallery, London.

The London Original Print Fair (LOPF) has shortlisted five institutions for this year’s acquisition award. The successful entrant will win £8000 to spend at the fair which takes place at the Royal Academy of Arts on May 3-6.

Connaught Brown has sold a still-life by Vincent van Gogh (1853-90) to the Noordbrabants Museum in the Netherlands.

The Victoria & Albert Museum has purchased a rare 17th century wall hanging from the Belgian restorer and weaver De Wit Fine Tapestries.

A charitable trust has bought two pairs of 18th century French chairs from National Galleries of Scotland for a museum in Chester.