Grayson Perry: The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman
![Lead-glazed earthenware dish](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/dFcpgLHoBiK5gKrydpKTZV-415-80.jpg)
The British Museum holds a remarkable eight million artefacts in its vaults, which artist Grayson Perry has spent the past few months rummaging through for his latest exhibition. The cross-dressing Turner Prize winner persuaded the London museum to let him create a new exhibition by choosing objects from its archives and displaying them alongside his own work, which includes pottery, tapestry and a sculptural centrepiece - a rusted iron coffin in the shape of a ship, titled The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman.
Perry, who recently graced Wallpaper* HQ with his presence for a design discussion for his forthcoming Channel 4 programme, likened the experience of curating the exhibition - also called The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman - to being allowed to 'go mad' in the British Museum. He first narrowed down his pick of the museum's collection to around a thousand pieces, selecting work he was already interested in, before moving on to items that he found by chance or association.
The end product is 30 of his own artworks displayed alongside 170 pieces from the museum's stores, ranging from treasures of antiquity to contemporary items. With themes exploring the notions of craftsmanship and sacred journeys - from shamanism, magic and holy relics to motorbikes - the artefacts on show include Polynesian fetishes, Buddhist votive offerings, a prehistoric hand axe and a Hello Kitty hand towel.
'I invite you to view these artefacts by reading them through my lens,' Perry explains. 'I am not a historian, an archaeologist or an ethnographer. I am an artist and this is principally an art exhibition. I have made my choices of objects from the BM collection because of their connections with each other and with my own work. Sometimes the connection is in their function, sometimes in their subject, and often in their form. One thing that connects all my choices is my delight in them.'
Re-engraved coin: bust of Queen Victoria facing left, with beard and boating hat, minted in Royal Mint, 1882
Green glazed composition staff-terminal in the form of the god Bes sitting on a lotus flower with a monkey between his feet. Bes wears a feathered crown and cradles an infant Bes figure in his left arm. Egypt, BC664-332
’Map of Truths and Beliefs’ (detail) by Grayson Perry, 2011
’Our Mother’ by Grayson Perry, 2009
’Pilgrimage to the British Museum’ by Grayson Perry, 2011
’The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman’ by Grayson Perry, 2011. Cast by Tom Crompton and Bjorn Fiskvaten. Glassblowing by Mark Taylor and David Hill
Painted wooden portable shrine decorated with scenes from the Hindu Epics, made in Western India, 19th–20th century
Detail view of ’The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman’
’The Frivolous Now’ by Grayson Perry, 2011
’The Rosetta Vase’ by Grayson Perry, 2011
Batik from Java, Indonesia depicting European figures - possibly Dutch royalty. Cotton, 1880-1913
ADDRESS
British Museum
Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DG
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
-
Take off: Mathieu Lehanneur's Olympic Cauldron rises into the Parisian night sky
The Paris 2024 Olympics’ opening ceremony was closed with a soaring cauldron spectacle that will go down in history
By Hugo Macdonald Published
-
Phaidon’s new Graphic Classics is a lavish greatest hits of graphic design
Graphic Classics is a compendium of seven centuries of visual culture, from the everyday and ephemeral to visionary works that reshaped our world
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Birley Chocolate hits the sweet ’n’ chic spot in London’s Chelsea
The new Birley Chocolate shop, a sibling to Birley Bakery, is a confection of colour as delicious as its finely crafted goods
By Melina Keays Published
-
Grayson Perry unveils first permanent public sculpture in London
Grayson Perry illuminates the courtyard of A House for Artists with his new permanent public artwork in London, Inspiration Lives Here, a monument to the history of Barking & Dagenham
By Martha Elliott Published
-
Masked artist series raises money for art therapy
Grayson Perry, Jenny Saville and Camille Walala are photographed for a new portrait series by Joanna Vestey, in support of art therapy charity AT The Bus
By Joanna Vestey - Photography Last updated
-
Grayson Perry on becoming a national treasure, Trump, and how everything means nothing
By Elly Parsons Last updated
-
Light shows and pink feathers: how Art Basel 2015 took over Hong Kong
By Catherine Shaw Last updated
-
Sanctuary: Britain’s artists and their studios
By Jonathan Bell Last updated