Afternoon:
10°c
It's enough to test the nerve of any curator: setting up 3,300 of the world's most precious but supremely breakable works of art and craft.
But renovation of the Victoria and Albert Museum's ceramics galleries has gone without a crash, and from Friday visitors will be able to see a host of stunning items, some of them thousands of years old.
Items by Pablo Picasso and Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry are shown alongside Ming vases, exquisite Delft, a Meissen goat and sculpture from ancient Egypt.
For the first time a potter's studio and kiln have been set up and visitors will be able to take a turn on a potter's wheel, with craftspeople holding masterclasses. First in the post will be Stephen Dixon, a Royal College of Art graduate known for work with biting political satire.
There is also a partial reconstruction of the studio of Dame Lucie Rie, one of the greatest potters of the 20th century, with film footage of her at work.
The renovated rooms form the first phase of an £11 million development. The second phase will open next year, with 26,000 more objects on display.
Reino Leifkes, the museum's head of ceramics, said he hoped the galleries would help people appreciate the best of what they owned, and the potter's studio would be “incredibly important” in explaining the work that goes into each item. He added: “The new galleries are fabulous. They're so beautiful and clean and the light is a real treat.”
Contemporary curator Alun Graves said he hoped the displays would show people ceramics could be great art and “not just pretty decorative objects”. The development has been funded by trusts and donors including Sir Timothy Sainsbury and the Ronald and Rita McAulay Foundation.
The Art Fund charity contributed £80,000 to a £150,000 commission called Signs and Wonders, in which 450 monochrome pots by British artist Edmund de Waal are arranged on a red lacquer shelf high above the gallery.
