Doctoral Placement – Jewish Dealers and the V&A Ceramics Collections
Reference: MAY20236661
Expiry date: 23:59, Thu, 22nd Jun 2023
Location: Cromwell Road
Salary: £0 Per Annum
Benefits: V&A staff pass – 25% off gift shop, access to exhibtions and other museums. A bespoke training package designed for the placement student cohort.
Duration: 3 – 6 Months
Attachments: VADoctoralPlacementSchemeApplicationGuidelines202324(2).pdf
JewishDealersandtheVACeramicsCollections-VADoctoralPlacementScheme202324.pdf
This placement focuses on exploring the contributions of Jewish art and antique dealers to forming the V&A’s internationally important ceramics collection.

Building on the research objectives of the AHRC-funded project ‘Jewish Country Houses – Objects, Networks, People’ (2019-2024), the student will undertake primary source research using the archives, accession registers and close examination of museum objects, to identify and map the networks of Jewish dealers who contributed to building the collections of European earthenwares (Italian maiolica, French faience, Dutch Delft and German stoneware). The student will use preliminary findings to direct their research into the networks of Jewish dealers, either exploring the impact within the wider trade of historic ceramics of a small number of prolific dealers (e.g. Siegfried Bing, Alfred Spero, Durlacher Brothers) or investigating the larger network of lesser-known Jewish dealers and providing biographical and business information.

Placement candidates will expect to acquire the following skills and knowledge from this placement.

• Provenance research

• Cataloguing

• Public engagement

• Object handling

Possible outputs of the placement

A comprehensive listing in the form of a database of Jewish dealers and agents that appear in the museum documentation and other related archives and libraries. • Improving CMS & Explore the Collections catalogue records, batch editing to update provenance details and biographical information about the dealers. • Delivering a research seminar to Museum staff • An entry on Jewish actors (dealers, donors, collectors etc.) in the museum collection for the V&A Blog, and potentially for external partners

For more information please see here.

Doctoral Placement – Transcription of Henry Cole’s Diaries
Reference: MAY20236669
Expiry date: 23:59, Thu, 22nd Jun 2023
Location: Cromwell Road
Salary: £0 Per Annum
Benefits: V&A staff pass – 25% off gift shop, access to exhibtions and other museums. A bespoke training package designed for the placement student cohort.
Duration: 3-6 Months
Attachments: VADoctoralPlacementSchemeApplicationGuidelines202324(2).pdf
TranscriptionofHenryCole’sDiaries-VADoctoralPlacementScheme202324.pdf
In 1868 Henry Cole left London, where he ran both the Department of Science and Art and the South Kensington Museum, for a three-month trip in Italy. There he aimed to investigate historical techniques of architectural mosaic and allied crafts, which might be revived to the benefit of contemporary British design and education. Cole’s handwritten diary of this expedition is held today in the NAL: Notes of a journey to Palermo and back … . It contains also sketches, prices of objects acquired, and observations on matters such as terracotta, maiolica, Cosmati work and sgraffito. Cole draws up lists of objects to be acquired – or reproduced – for the Museum, to inspire artists, attract the public and inform students of the Mosaic class at the School of Design.

The aim of this PhD placement is to digitise, transcribe and index this important, so far unresearched source. The student will then be able to conduct research to contextualise this source and to develop public facing outputs, to be agreed depending on the length of the placement as well as the interests and skills they bring and/or would like to develop. Placement candidates will expect to acquire the following skills and knowledge from this placement.

• Object-focused research skills

• Transcription, indexing and digitisation skills

• An understanding of how to translate research into information for a collections management system

• Blog writing and public presentation skills.

For more information please see here.

Doctoral Placement – Provenance of V&A South Asian Collections
Reference: MAY20236680
Expiry date: 23:59, Thu, 22nd Jun 2023
Location: Cromwell Road
Salary: £0 Per Annum
Benefits: V&A staff pass – 25% off gift shop, access to exhibtions and other museums. A bespoke training package designed for the placement student cohort.
Duration: 3 – 6 Months
Attachments: VADoctoralPlacementSchemeApplicationGuidelines202324(2).pdf
ProvenanceofVASouthAsianCollections-VADoctoralPlacementScheme202324.pdf
The project is based in the Asia Department/VARI and addresses the growing interest in the V&A’s South Asian Collections. Specifically, it aims to uncover new information about the provenance of items which entered the collection between the arrival of the East India Company holdings in 1879 and the Partition of India in 1947.

The student will review V&A archival records to identify the acquisition source and subsequently carry out research to uncover more information about them. In doing so, the project will make a significant contribution to the V&A’s provenance research efforts and the wider history of collecting. At every stage of the project, the student will be supported by the placement supervisors and curators in the Asia Department, and they will have opportunity to share their findings within and beyond the museum.

Placement candidates will expect to acquire the following skills and knowledge from this placement.

• Insight into the provenance of items from India which entered the V&A’s collections between 1880 and 1947.

• Knowledge of the network of merchants and other agents dealing in Indian art during this period.

• Provenance research and archival research skills.

• Familiarity with collections management database systems and learnt cataloguing skills.

• Expanded experience and skills in sharing research with expert and general audiences.

 

Possible outputs of the placement

Review relevant archival documents at the V&A (acquisition records, correspondence files, departmental research records) to cast light onto the provenance of items from India which entered the collections between 1880 and 1947.

• Devise a research strategy into dealers and collectors, with support from the project supervisors.

• Carry out research into specific dealers and collectors, particularly those who supplied the objects that will be included in the new South Asian gallery displays. This work will involve the use of records in relevant archives and libraries, such as the British Library and National Archives, and online resources

• Enter relevant information into the V&A’s Collections Management System (CMS), following the framework established in last year’s DTP placement.

• Share their research with the V&A research community and the public (for example, by giving presentations at Asia Department meetings, the VARI research seminar, the Museum’s provenance research seminar series, articles or blog posts for the V&A website).

For more information please see here.

 

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