§ Mr. GRANTasked the President of the Board of Education it the destruction of the majolica columns of the old Ceramic Gallery, or Lecture Theatre Gallery, in the Victoria and Albert Museum has been so complete that not a single specimen of them has been preserved?
§ Mr. J. A. PEASENone of the columns in the old Ceramic Gallery have been preserved, but all the originals, from which the columns in the gallery were adapted, are in the Central Refreshment Room, and they are, and will remain, available for students and others desiring to study this class of work.
§ Mr. GRANTasked the President of the Board of Education if ho is aware that no specimens of middle Victorian pottery contemporary with the majolica columns in the old Ceramic Gallery of the Victoria and Albert Museum had ever been or were exhibited in that gallery; and: if so, what steps he proposes to take?
§ Mr. PEASEBetween the years 1844 and 1869 more than 1,000 specimens of contemporaneous pottery, including 356 pieces bought at the Paris Exhibition in 1867 were purchased for the Museum. In Appendix D of the 15th Report (1869) of the Science and Art Department, page 210, it is stated that a great improvement in the general classification of the collections was in the course of being carried out by grouping the342W whole of the examples of ceramic art, the property of the Museum, and by arranging the collection in the new corridor of the Lecture Theatre. In Appendix D of the 16th Report (1869), page 296, it is stated that the new Ceramic Gallery now open to the public had been filled with specimens of the potter's art of all countries and periods. In Appendix D of the 18th Report (1871), page 383, it is stated that the ceramic collection, which had been moved to allow of the painting and decoration of the walls of the gallery, had been entirely rearranged, and all the new acquisitions exhibited in their respective divisions. The last part of the question does not arise.
§ Mr. GRANTasked the President of the Board of Education if the Committee who advised him upon the new decoration of the old Ceramic Gallery in the Victoria and Albert Museum were instructed to consider their recommendations, especially with reference to the exhibition of works of art of the times of Louis XIV. and Louis XV. contained in the Jones Bequest; and if he is aware that such works form only a portion of this collection, the whole of which must, under the terms of the bequest, be exhibited together and may not be separated?
§ Mr. PEASEThe answer to the first part of the question is in the negative, and to the second part in the affirmative. I may call the hon. Member's attention to the fact that the terms of reference to the Committee are to be found in Command Paper 6355 of 1912.