Leeds Museums and Galleries

about 150 objects (148 identified by Reeve) from the Cypriot Bronze Age to the Roman period, almost none with archaeological provenience; about a quarter are figurines (2021)

Reeve 2021

1. 1870
   Aldam gave 5 pounds towards buying Greek pottery from Cyprus for the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society museum after Holmes read Sandwith's paper on Dali pottery at the West Riding Geological and Polytechnic Society (28 September 1870); a large Bichrome amphora (LEEDM.D.1964.0350, entered in the Report as from 'Laimia, Cyprus', a place Reeve could not identify) and, from J. I. Ikin, a White Painted bowl (LEEDM.D.1964.0352) were the first ancient Cypriot objects in the museum.

   DaliWilliam AldamJoshua Ingham IkinJohn HolmesThomas Backhouse SandwithReeve 2021

2. 1875
   Under the president J. I. Ikin a 100 pound special fund was raised; 14 pounds was spent on 'Cypriot pottery', probably Sandwith objects shown by Holmes at the Yorkshire Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures, the payment routed via Holmes. Objects are not itemised in the Report and are identified in the present collection with varying confidence.

   LeedsJoshua Ingham IkinJohn HolmesLouis Compton MiallThomas Backhouse SandwithReeve 2021

3. 1881–1882
   Holmes offered his collection (including Cypriot antiquities) to Leeds Corporation for half its value as assessed by himself; the Council voted 35 to 13 in favour of buying it for 250 pounds as the nucleus of a free public museum.

   LeedsJohn HolmesMr Beckworth (Leeds)Reeve 2021

4. 1884
   The Leeds Free Public Library's Municipal Buildings opened (April 1884) with a small museum; the Annual Report first listed the museum as 'a new Department'. Holmes objected to the location and display and refused to arrange or label the collection, leading to years of friction.

   LeedsJohn HolmesReeve 2021

5. 1888
   The Holmes collection (with its Cypriot objects) was shown in the museum section of the Central Court at the inaugural exhibition of the new Leeds Art Gallery, catalogued as 'The Holmes Collection (Purchased) of Ethnological, Archaeological, and other objects'.

   LeedsJohn HolmesWalter HardingReeve 2021

6. 1889
   The Library Committee resolved to ask Holmes on what terms he would repurchase the collection; the Council objected and the proposal was not pursued. The committee also turned down an offer of further Sandwith objects arranged by Holmes (undated, 1880s).

   LeedsJohn HolmesReeve 2021

7. 1893
   Henry Crowther became curator of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society museum and served until 1928.

   LeedsHenry CrowtherReeve 2021

8. 1902
   British Museum duplicates from its Cyprus excavations were given to the Philosophical and Literary Society museum at the instigation of Nathan Bodington: 34 objects on A. S. Murray's list (about 20 'Mycenaean objects' in the Council Report); 20 survive (13 from Enkomi, 5 from Klavdia-Tremithos, 2 Mycenaean fragments of unspecified Cypriot site). A.S. Murray's minute to the BM Trustees (July 1902) records the Yorkshire College's application on the Society's behalf.

   Enkomi / Klavdia-TremithosNathan BodingtonAlexander Stuart MurrayHenry CrowtherReeve 2021

9. 1913
   Lady (Eliza) Bodington gave a selection of Cypriot objects collected by Sir Nathan Bodington (glass vessels, terracotta figures, an amphora, unguentaria, bronze mirrors, knuckle bones) to the Society's museum; the glass does not survive.

   LeedsEliza BodingtonNathan BodingtonReeve 2021

10. 1920–1921
    Frances Louisa Stott's gift, recorded in the 1921 Report 'per Mrs M. Smith', included 'an Aryballos from Cyprus' (now identified in the museum as Corinthian). Her will asked that her British Museum gift be attributed to her late friend C. L. Hoelen; the BM has no record of it.

    LeedsFrances Louisa StottMartha SmithCharles Louis HoelenReeve 2021

11. 1921
    The Philosophical and Literary Society museum passed to Leeds Corporation (14-member sub-committee, 500 pounds a year for 25 years and a 1,000 pound special fund for acquisitions); Crowther was retained. The Holmes collection was later transferred from the Art Gallery, reuniting the two Cypriot groups.

    LeedsHenry CrowtherJohn HolmesReeve 2021

12. 1925–1926
    Leeds first declined (March 1926), then bought for 200 pounds 103 Cypriot pottery and bronze objects from the Colonial Commissioner for Cyprus, William Bevan, from the Cyprus pavilion of the British Empire Exhibition, Wembley: its largest ever Cypriot acquisition, about 20 per cent of the annual collections budget.

    LeedsWilliam BevanHenry CrowtherReeve 2021

13. 1927
    Aquila Dodgson's large collection was bequeathed to the museum (Cypriot content not stated).

    LeedsAquila DodgsonReeve 2021

14. 1928
    Herbert Ricketts succeeded Crowther as curator; J. M. Baines was assistant curator 1931-1935. Baines's memoir alleges Ricketts burned Crowther's notes (no independent verification, per Reeve).

    LeedsHerbert RickettsJohn Manwaring BainesHenry CrowtherReeve 2021

15. March 1941
    A bomb hit the Philosophical Hall; the Cypriot displays were badly damaged. No glass objects survive and many records were lost; the surviving objects were re-accessioned in the 1960s (LEEDM.D.1964.xxxx).

    LeedsReeve 2021

16. 1946–1947
    Thomas E. Hollings gave and bequeathed his English ceramics collection, with 20 antiquities of which six are Cypriot; they were transferred to the museum only in 1988 (LEEDM.D.1988.0001-0007).

    LeedsThomas HollingsReeve 2021

17. 1968–1972
    About twelve ancient Cypriot objects were loaned in the late 1960s-early 1970s to the School Museum Service; some were lost or glued into their housings. They came back in 2018 with seven further Cypriot objects the service had obtained, mostly from local dealers.

    LeedsReeve 2021

18. 1969
    Displays of Greek and Cypriot objects opened in the Municipal Buildings after the Philosophical Hall was declared unfit; the Aldam amphora was integrated into a display for the first time.

    LeedsWilliam AldamReeve 2021

19. 1999–2008
    The museum left the Municipal Buildings (1999), the Leeds Museums Discovery Centre opened (2007) and Leeds City Museum opened in 2008, where Cypriot objects are in the Ancient Worlds gallery.

    LeedsReeve 2021

20. 2004
    A Black on Red flask (LEEDM.D.2004.0001.017) from the Aquila Dodgson collection was bought as part of a large Egyptological collection with Heritage Lottery Fund and Philosophical and Literary Society support.

    LeedsAquila DodgsonReeve 2021

21. 2021
    Anna Holly Reeve's Leeds PhD thesis catalogued 148 objects as the ancient Cypriot collection and traced their itineraries.

    LeedsAnna Holly ReeveReeve 2021

• Bichrome amphora, Cypro-Archaic, the largest piece (recorded in 1870 as from 'Laimia')

  LEEDM.D.1964.0350via William Aldam1870Reeve 2021

• White Painted bowl, Cypro-Geometric ('Graeco-Phoenician Patera')

  LEEDM.D.1964.0352via Joshua Ingham Ikin1870Reeve 2021

• Bichrome spouted jug with basket handle bearing an 1875 Yorkshire Exhibition label

  LEEDM.D.1964.0346via John Holmes1875Reeve 2021

• Bichrome oenochoe, Cypro-Geometric, exported by T. B. Sandwith, exhibited 1875, via W. H. Verity and Joseph Hall; given by Ethel Stott

  LEEDM.D.1964.0371via Ethel Stott1957Reeve 2021

• Bronze axe, Middle Cypriot, bought at Dali May 1873 by Holmes

  LEEDM.D.1964.0383from Dalivia John Holmes1882Reeve 2021, fig. 2.5 caption

• Triple juglet, Tell el-Yahudiyeh ware, Sandwith/Holmes, 'Hs' provenance

  LEEDM.D.1964.0305via John Holmes1882Reeve 2021, fig. 2.4a caption

• Mycenaean and Cypriot pottery, whorls, pestles, bronze sheath (13 objects) excavated by the BM in 1896

  BM duplicate group (LEEDM.D.1964.xxxx)from Enkomivia British Museum1902Reeve 2021

• Bronze mirror 'collected by the late Sir Nathan Bodington in Cyprus'

  LEEDM.D.1964.0388via Eliza Bodington1913Reeve 2021

• Red Polished composite vessel, probably from the 1926 Wembley purchase

  LEEDM.D.1964.0298via William Bevan1926Reeve 2021

• White Painted juglet, Cypro-Geometric, slip 'Greco-Phoenician oenochoe ... Lawrence-Cesnola'

  LEEDM.D.1988.0004via Thomas Hollings1947Reeve 2021

• Black on Red flask from the Dodgson collection

  LEEDM.D.2004.0001.017via Aquila Dodgson2004Reeve 2021