Museum acquisitions

Sizergh Castle and Garden, a stately home and garden in Cumbria run by the National Trust, has bought a portrait by 18th century painter George Romney.

The number of items deemed to be Treasure and found by the UK public has hit a record high, according to new figures from the British Museum.

The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) has been given a “transformative” collection valued at more than $100m.

A well-preserved 3000-year-old Bronze age gold sun pendant, known as a bulla, has been bought by the British Museum after it was found by a metal detectorist in Shropshire in 2018.

A sixteenth century double-handled maiolica albarello, bought by Mayfair dealer Sam Fogg in 2014, has been acquired by the British Museum.

A new museum in Plymouth has acquired a ‘colossal and extraordinary grotesque grinning crab’ by the Martin Brothers after fundraising to keep the sculpture in the UK.

An 18th century watercolour miniature by one of India’s greatest painters has been saved for the nation by the British Museum.

Three works by Modern British artists will go on display at The Hepworth Wakefield gallery following a donation via the government’s Cultural Gifts Scheme.

A rare Saxon walrus ivory seal matrix will go back on display in the British Museum – after the institution missed out on buying the object twice before.

A white porcelain sculpture made in the experimental years of the Chelsea factory has been acquired for the national collection of ceramics at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

A 90-page journal kept by a 15-year-old boy has been purchased by the University of York for £3200 at auction.

This 19th century Jamaican inlaid table by Ralph Turnbull was one of several pieces that Thomas Coulborn & Sons sold to major museums this year.

The Brontë Parsonage Museum has secured an 1830 autograph miniature manuscript by a 14-year-old Charlotte Brontë (1816-55) that was auctioned at Aguttes in Paris.

London’s National Gallery is asking for the public’s help to raise the final £2m required to buy 'The Finding of Moses' by Orazio Gentileschi (1563-1639) from its owner, entrepreneur and founder of the DFS furniture retailer, Graham Kirkham.