Go Artefacts in Britain
This page lists Go artefacts in Britain, for example exhibits in museums and stately homes. It includes paintings, furniture, porcelain and of course Go equipment. If you discover something not listed then let us know and include any photographs or web links. A list of Japanese collections in British museums is held at the Japanese Embassy site.
Note: museums usually have large collections that are not permanently on display and items are often rotated, so there is no guarantee to see anything listed below. If you want a quick look at items displayed have a look at photos of artefacts.
Museums
British Museum, London
Photos of Go ban, prints and netsuke copyright of Trustees of the British Museum
On level 2, in the Korea room, is an exhibit captioned “wooden paduk board and pieces made of shell and stone”, which is an interesting Korean board, specifically an 18th–19th Century Sunjang Baduk board, hollow with tensioning wires underneath to make it resonate when played on. There are bowls and slate and shell stones of similar age. Sensei’s Library has an article about Sunjang Baduk. | |
There is in their collection a 19th Century Japanese Go ban, with gold on black floral decoration around the sides, and matching bowls. It is part of a set with a Shogi board and Sugoroku (backgammon) board decorated the same way. |
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In the Chinese collection is a Cizhou-type Ming stoneware vase from the 15th Century. It is about 30 cm high and is decorated in black enamels under a turquoise glaze. It shows the immortals at pursuits such as music (on back) and Go (two men play as a third watches). A larger vase features Chinese Chess. Neither were on display in Autumn 2011. | |
There is a large collection of Japanese netsuke (mostly not on display), seven featuring Go. Four of them are carved in the shape of hollow fruit (such as a peach, orange or persimmon), with two or more figures grouped around a Go ban inside. Another is just a carving of men playing Go, whilst two are carvings of the famous horse and rider on Go ban (as in the picture). |
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There is also a 15 cm white porcelain Chinese plate from the late 18th century with overglaze enamels and gilding. A man and woman play, while a third watches. A similar plate shows Chinese Chess with tall pieces. These plates formed part of the "China: Journey to the East" exhibition that visited Bristol Museum in early 2009 | |
The games collection has a 19th Century set of stones from Shanghai. The stones are small (about 1 cm diameter) and have Chinese characters on their face. They are contained in brown wooden bowls with patterned lids. These stones also formed part of the "China: Journey to the East" exhibition that visited Bristol Museum in early 2009. |
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Also in the collection are two tsuba (Japanese sword guards); one shows Tadonobu hurling a Go board and the other sages reading and playing Go. | |
Other objects are in the games collection, part of which toured the UK in 2005-2007 as the Across the Board exhibition. |
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The British Museum has a collection of Wood Block Prints (Ukiyo-e) some of which show Go images. A file of images of some of the prints has been provided to us by print-collector Erwin Gerstorfer. | |
The collection grew in 2008 with prints from the acquired Miller Collection as shown here: | |
The Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art is a large collection of Chinese porcelain that was part of SOAS. It was on display in its own museum until it closed at the end of 2007. The collection has been transferred to the British Museum's Gallery 95. In the collection there is a Ming jar dated 1543 featuring Go players. The jar is 13.5 cm in diameter with blue underglaze decoration. Two players crouch at a board, one holding his bowl and the other playing a stone on the board which has no grid visible, but decorated sides and legs. Photo. The image featured on a greeting card. In case 23 item C606 is a larger 25 cm jar or vase featuring games, such as Bilnd Man's Bluff, but probably shows five people grouped around a Chinese Chess board, not Go. In case 21 item B629 is a 25 cm bowl featuring ladies in a garden under the rim. Two of them sit at a medium-sized Go board. |
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In the British Library collection from Dunhuang in China is a 6th century Go manual. It is sponsored by Peter and Sheila Wendes (Zenmachine).
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
In the Japanese Gallery (45), there is an inro with cover from about 1700, made in lacquer with shell and foil. It is described as showing Chinese sages in scholarly pursuits; the lower front panel, of two on the inro itself, shows four men around a Go board. Vam catalogue entry |
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Also in the Japanese Gallery is a 15cm tiered food box made in porcelain with red overglazed enamel from Kyoto about 1800. It is decorated with figures and inside one has the Worthies at a Go ban. The artist is Aoki Mokubei. Vam catalogue entry |
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Another object connected to Go (not on display Autumn 2011) is a painted ribbed and cut velvet picture of the famous gateway Yomei-mon at Nikko, c1900. One of the carved panels on this gate is of a Go game, but there is not enough detail in the picture to see this. Vam catalogue entry |
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The museum owns a Japanese woodblock print (not on display Autumn 2011) of an interior with goban, called “Mandayu of the Nakaomiya House”. Two ladies play Sugoroku, the Japanese equivalent of Backgammon, whilst another smokes a pipe and leans on a pile of Shogi and Go boards. Vam catalogue entry |
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In the Chinese collection in the Living section (not on display Autumn 2011) are 18th Century Go “boxes” (wooden Go bowls) and a thin modern board and stones, described as being “Encirclement Chess (weiqi)”. Vam catalogue entry | |
In the Chinese Gallery (44) in case 57 is an large (29 cm H 25 cm D) incense burner. It is porcelain with enamel decoration showing the Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove. As natural two are playing Go, with the others doing other worthwhile scholarly activities. It has been paired with a leaf-carved wooden lid and stand. Vam catalogue entry | |
In the new porcelain galleries opened in 2009 (on level 6) there are many items depicting Go, mostly made in the 1662 to 1722 period in Jingdezhen, the centre of Chinese porcelain manufacture. More details on the porcelain galleries collection. |
V & A Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, London
Following museum refurbishment in 2006, their Go set (a thin folding board and shiny plastic stones) is now in a case of games in the top gallery. It is labelled: "Go 1977 - Probably the oldest board game in the world. It requires a very high level of skill". Unfortunately the stones were just in piles when viewed in early 2007. Previously the Go set and its cardboard box were in different cases in different galleries. They claimed the set was made by the Just Games Trading Co, but it is thought they just imported it. Vam catalogue entry | |
Also in the same case is a picture of a glazed tile, blue on white, made in 1881 by Maw and Co of Salop. It shows two toddlers playing “Go-bang” (Five-in-a-row), but they could just as easily be playing Go. Their mother leans over encouragingly. The actual tile used to be displayed, but has not been on display recently. Vam catalogue entry |
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
This museum was extensively rebuilt and fully reopened in November 2009. It has various objects in the East Asian Art collection.
Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
In Room 26, item JL.9 is a moulded white porcelain ink stand of a boy sitting on a Go board, Japanese c1680. About 8 cm wide and 15 cm tall, a young boy in red leotard sits on a Go ban with feet together and knees akimbo. The board has flowers on the sides in enamel paint and blue grid lines (11x11) and typical Go ban feet. Also in room 2, item O.1938 is the left hand of a pair of painted glass mirrors, 60 cm by 90 cm, in gilt frames. It shows a couple seated at a table in open buildings by some water. They wear long coloured robes and hats in the Chinese style. The man rattles his stones in a brown bowl, while the lady holds a white stone correctly in her fingers. The grey board is depicted long and thin however. The mirror is mid-18th century. In room 28, item C10-1978 may show a representation of a Go board. A Ming double walled hot water bottle of c1500 shows on its inside surface five figures, two of whom are by a grid with blobs on. The perspective is wrong though and it could represent some sort of net in a frame. The bottle is 10cm in diameter and porcelain with blue painted underglaze. In the Sasakawa Fan Galley, a Chinese Brisé fan (hu shan) from about 1820-1840 has lacquered wood sticks. Part of the scene on one side shows two women seated on a bench and red chair playing Go on a red table. One holds out her hand to play a stone. Also in their collection are two Go netsuke; one is carved with Go players and the other is of a horse being ridden on to a Go ban. In addition they have two Japanese woodblock prints; one by Yashima Gakutei shows Go, from a series on the four accomplishments, and the other is Tadanobu defending himself with a Go ban. |
Maidstone Museum & Bentlif Art Gallery, Kent
Photos copyright of and reproduced by permission of Maidstone Museum This museum has the Walter Samuel Collection of Japanese art and also Julius Brenchley's Cabinet of Curiosities, both of which feature Go-related items. In 2012 a new extension was added to the building with the Japanese Gallery now above the new main entrance. The items on display have changed and some of the items listed below are no longer on display. | |
In the Cabinet of Curiosities in the Brenchley Room is a Chinese porcelain famille verte plate from 1720 showing ladies taking tea on a verandah about to play a game. |
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In the new Japanese Gallery there is on display, in a case beneath a cabinet, a complete service of bowls, plates and beakers. The design features two men in old costumes kneeling at a goban, with a lady behind to the right and a potted tree to the left. |
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Previously in the former Japanese Gallery in the People, Legends and Gods case, item 18 was an 8cm tall 19th century ivory figurine of a man, Oguri Hangan, riding the tamed man-eating horse “onikage” balanced on a goban, by Hakuunsai. |
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Also there was a large, 20 cm tall, oval pot (maybe a brush holder) of elephant ivory on a decorated wood base from 1860s. It shows a samurai fighting assailants, hitting one with a goban held over his head, the coloured Go stones spilling everywhere and the bowls kicked over. |
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There was an unglazed ceramic enameled tea-pot, 8cm big with side handle and spout, by Kentei c1800. A large group of kids practise calligraphy and play Go; one is pointing at a move on the board. |
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Previously on display in their collection of inro and netsuke was a 3 cm white donut-shaped netsuke, with stopper showing with four people and a goban on thin legs. |
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In their travelling exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints, an 18th century print by Isoda Koryusai described as "Courtesan with two kamuro". It is of two women playing Sugeroku (Backgammon), with a third leaning on a Shogi and Go ban. A copy can be bought via their web site. |
Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth
Cheltenham Museum
Museum of East Asian Art, Bath
Has a small Doucai jar and cover from China, Kangxi Period (1662–1722). It shows two men playing Go on a large tree stump. |
Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery
Plymouth Museum
Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro
Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, Merseyside
Hollytrees Museum, Colchester
There is a golden and painted Chinese fan presented by the local Chinese Society. It is not fully unfolded, but appears to show a man standing in front of a Go board amongst the pictures of figures. |
Oriental Museum, Durham
Photos copyright of Durham University Museums
National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
Museum of Farnham
On the shelf over the fire place in the Georgian panelled room are some oriental jars, one of which (about 20cm tall) depicts a box, a flower vase and a Go board with bowls thereon. |
Stately Homes
Chiddingstone Castle, Kent
Clandon Park, Surrey
The Vyne, Sherborne St John, Hampshire
Mompesson House, Salisbury
Osborne House, Isle Of Wight
Believed to have a vase depicting Go in Japan. This was hard to see in 2005, assumed to be the large vase on the floor on the far side of the dimly lit side room to the council chamber. |
Abbotsford, Melrose
Exhibitions
Game Plan: Board Games Rediscovered
The V & A Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, London, put on an exhibition on the history of board games between 8th October 2016 and 23rd April 2017 called "Game Plan: Board Games Rediscovered". It of course featured Go.
Ming 50 Years That Changed China
From 18th September 2014 to 5th January 2015, an exhibition was held at the British Museum. It was called "Ming 50 Years That Changed China" and consisted of exhibits from the British Museum and items on loan from ten museums in China and elsewhere. All items date from the Ming dynasty years 1400 to 1450, a time of peace when the capital moved to Beijing. Some of the items displayed featured Go.
China: The Three Emperors
From 12th November 2005 to 17th April 2006, an exhibition was held at the Royal Academy of Arts. It was called China: The Three Emperors 1662-1795 and consisted of exhibits from the Palace Museum, Beijing. Several of the items displayed featured Go scenes.
Across the Board
Various objects from the British Museum's games collection toured the UK in 2005-2007 as the Across the Board exhibition. It visited Segedunum Fort, Exeter, Gosport, Leicester, Lincoln and Luton.
Others
The Queen's Collection
The Queen's Collection is known to feature Go-related prints and she was presented privately with a set of yunzi stones in China a while ago (kept at Sandringham).
Wellcome Trust
Related Collections in Museums
Varous other museums have large oriental collections, for example, the Horniman Museum in Dulwich, London SE23 3PQ, has a lot of Japanese items in its ethnic collection, but nothing Go-related is normally on view.
Various toy museums around the country display old games, such as at Pollock's Toy Museum in London and the Edinburgh Museum of Childhood, but Go is not normally featured.
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