Adopt an Object: available objects
The Adopt an Object scheme allows members to help Reading Museum care for its collection by adopting one of its objects for a year – either to show your own support, or as a special and unique gift.
Adopters receive a certificate including an image and description of the object, and their name will appear on its label in the gallery.
The adoption fee includes membership of the Friends of Reading Museum and as such entitles the adopter to a 10% discount on any purchase from the museum shop or website.
Objects available for adoption are all on display in the galleries of Reading Museum and are from all the collections from ceramics to hand axes to natural history and biscuit tins.
To adopt an object click the button next to the item and complete the online form.
CLICK HERE AND READ BEFORE ADOPTING
Fine Art & Ceramics
Delftware charger, about 1694
An early tin-glazed earthenware plate decorated with an image of William III (William of Orange) as a king and a chivalrous knight.
Object ref: REDMG:1972.187.1
‘Miss Mary R Mitford’ by Benjamin Robert Haydon, 1824, oil on canvas
Mary Russell Mitford was just becoming famous for writing Our Village, a series of sketches about Three Mile Cross, when her friend Benjamin Haydon painted this (unflattering!) portrait. She also wrote Sketches of a Country Town, based on Reading where she lived for a time.
Object ref: REDMG:1931.305.1
‘Druscilla’ by John Tweed, about 1902, white marble
A marble study of a studio model by John Tweed, known as ‘The Empire Sculptor’ during his lifetime because of the many public sculptures by him around the world.
Object ref: REDMG:1963.83.1
‘A pupil of Green Girl's School, Reading’ by Annie Margaret Bradley, 1898, oil on canvas
The setting for this painting is the north side of the chancel at St Mary the Virgin Reading, in front of the vestry entrance and John Kendrick monument. The scale of the memorial has been changed by the artist - it is far larger in reality.
Object ref: REDMG:1946.94.1
Abbey Painting
‘Sumer is Icumen in’ (Abbey Series No 5) by Earnest Board, 1920, oil on canvas. The famous ‘round’ was written down at Reading Abbey in 1240.
Object ref: REDMG:1931.276.1
Abbey Painting
‘Burial of King Henry I at Reading Abbey, Jan 4 1136’ (Abbey Series No 1) by Harry Morley, 1916, oil on canvas.
Object ref: REDMG:1931.280.1
Black-decorated jar by Alan Caiger-Smith, 1967
This near-spherical jar, made at The Aldermaston Pottery, was one of Caiger-Smith’s favourite pots which he kept at his home until he gave it to the Museum in the late 1990s.
Object ref: REDMG:1998.205.2
‘Demeter Pregnant’ by Michael Ayrton, about 1966, bronze
Ayrton, a leading British sculptor, has depicted Demeter, Greek god of fertility, not as a classical figure but with an angular body and face derived from African sculpture.
Object ref: REDMG:1974.644.1
Platter ‘Girl with a Sunflower’ painted by John Piper, about 1982
In 1982 Piper collaborated with Jean-Paul Landreau from the Fulham pottery for an exhibition, John Piper: New Ceramics, working at Fawley Bottom Farmhouse. The pieces were intended as decorative objects for home interiors and indicate Piper's wider concern for taste and craftsmanship in everyday objects.
Object ref: REDMG:1997.166.25
‘Rebecca’ by Jacob Epstein, about 1930, bronze
Epstein, one of the most important sculptors of the early 20th century, made this portrait for his own pleasure. Rebecca was one of two sisters who were well-known performers in London and Paris revues at the time.
Object ref: REDMG:1987.63.1
Two lustreware chalices by Alan Caiger-Smith, 1980s
Two tall chalices, in cobalt copper blue and dark reddish lustre glaze. These fine examples of tin-glazed earthenware were made at The Aldermaston Pottery and decorated in Caiger-Smith’s unique painterly style.
Object ref: REDMG: 1997.153.24/25