British Museum

Black cat got your tongue?

For centuries the black cat has been represented as a symbol of the occult, as bad luck, as the witches’ familiar (and in some cases, the witch herself transformed). Common superstition holds that (whether good luck or back luck) a black cat crossing your path is a powerful occasion.

Whatever you believe, we’re wishing you a happy and a day full of luck 🤞

🐈‍⬛ Simon Bussy (1870-1954), 'Black Cat'. Woodcut, England, 1918.

🐈‍⬛ Maeda Masao 前田政雄 (1904-1974), ‘Black Cat’. Colour woodblock print on paper, Japan, 1940.

🐈‍⬛ Louis William Wain (1860-1939), ‘Home Sweet Home’ Watercolour touched with white, England, c. (1860-1939)

🐈‍⬛ Takahashi Shotei 高橋松亭 (1871-1945), ‘Black cat stretching’. Woodblock print on paper, Japan, c.1935.

🐈‍⬛ Ono Tadashige 小野忠重 (1909-1990), ‘Kawa’. Colour woodblock print on paper, Japan, 1957.

🐈‍⬛ George Cruikshank (1792-1878), ‘A screeching and demonic-looking cat, with large claws and teeth’ (Illustration to "George Cruikshank's Omnibus". Woodcut on paper, England, 1842.

☁✨ Escape into the dreamy, elegant world of 18th-century France...

Though his career barely lasted a decade, Antoine Watteau was one of the most influential artists working in France in the early 18th century.

Watteau preferred drawing to painting, using quick and expressive sketches to capture fleeting moments and ideas. Sometimes elements from these sketches appeared in his paintings months or even years later.

For the first time in over forty years almost every Watteau drawing in our world-class collection can be seen together in our new display ‘Colour and line: Watteau drawings’.

🏛 Room 90 until 14 September.

All works by Antoine Watteau (probably 1684–1721).
🖼 ‘Half n**e on a chaise lounge’. Red and black chalk, about 1716–17.
🖼 ‘Five studies of a woman's head’ (detail). Red, black and white chalk, about 1716–17.
🖼 ‘Study of a woman from front and behind’. Red, black and white chalk, about 1715.

You’re not just one person. In Ancient Egypt, you were at least five!

The soul wasn’t a single thing – it had many parts. But two of the most important were the ka and the ba.

The ka was your life force, the energy that made you alive. After death, it stayed with the body in the tomb, needing food, drink, and care – offerings to keep it going.

The ba – often shown as a human-headed bird – was your personality. It had wings and could move between the worlds of the living and the dead, watching over loved ones.

In this Book of the Dead papyrus, created for the scribe Ani, his ba bird rests on a shrine-shaped building, watching the weighing of his heart. If the scales tip in his favour, the ba is ready to take flight.

Each night, they were apart. But at sunrise, the ba and ka would reunite, making the soul whole again and ready to begin another day in the afterlife.

📜 Book of the Dead of Ani. Papyrus, from Thebes in Egypt, around 1250 BC.

If we didn’t know better, we’d think this ivy-leaf tiara belonged to an elven princess 🧝‍♀ 🌿

This realistic piece uses finely enameled gold to create the veined ivy leaves, while the small clusters of berries are inset chrysoberyl gems – a stone named for its golden-white hue ✨

👑 Tiara with ivy leaves and berries. Gold, enamel, and chrysoberyl, from England, around 1890.

On this day in 1859, the clock of the iconic London landmark, Big Ben, would be ticking for the first time, with the bell (from which the tower draws its nickname) striking just over a month later on 11 July of that same year 🕒🔔

🔎 Elinor Proby Adams (1885–1945), ‘Whitehall and Big Ben, London’. Watercolour, over graphite, England, c. 1885–1945.

‘There, deep down in that dreadful cauldron of swirling water and seething foam, will lie for all time the most dangerous criminal and the foremost champion of the law of their generation.’

– Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Final Problem.

Reichenbach Falls is the very real scene of the climactic final struggle between the world-famous (and fictional) detective, Sherlock Holmes, and his infamous archnemesis, criminal mastermind James Moriarty. They would both fall from the cliff, seemingly killing them both.

Happy ! 🕵🏻

🔎 Heinrich Rieter (1761–1818), ‘Dernière Cascade du Reichenbach dans la vallée d'Oberhasli’. Etching with hand-colouring, Switzerland, c. 1794.

What do you get if you cross a lion, a bird, and five-legged man? 🦁🦅🧔

To the Assyrians, the answer was a lamassu: a colossal creature that guarded important doorways in their ancient palaces.

The inclusion of a (rather surprising) fifth leg was the ingenious work of Assyrian sculptors – when viewed from the front the lamassu seems to be standing firmly; from the side they appear to be striding forward.

🔎 Lamassu statue. Gypsum, from Nimrud, 865–860 BC.

Ancient India: living traditions is now open ✨
Reaching back more than 2,000 years, this exhibition explores the origins of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist art from the ancient and powerful nature spirits of India.

Colourful, multi-sensory and atmospheric and developed in collaboration with a community advisory panel of practicing Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains, this major exhibitions looks at the early devotional art of India from a multi-faith, contemporary and global perspective, highlighting the inspiration behind now-familiar depictions of the deities and enlightened teachers of these world religions.

★★★★★ 'Spellbinding. Full of surprises and intrigue.' – The Standard
Book your ticket: https://ow.ly/gqWa50VX0ou

Can you bee-lieve this golden bug is more than 3,500 years old? 🐝✨

This tiny gold ornament was created by the Minoans, an ancient people who lived on the island of Crete. The Minoans used the bee as a symbol of power and prosperity, making it a frequent motif in their art and jewellery.


Happy ! 🐝

Jack and Jill were sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

Jean Émile Laboureur (1877–1943), ‘Lovers embracing beneath arbour’. Engraved illustration (for J Cazotte's 'Le Diable Amoreux'), Paris (France), 1921.