You can tell how important this collection is by the fact that the gallery in the British Museum in which is now housed is normally fully of Chinese tourists who come here to see one of the best collections of Chinese ceramics in the world, with beautiful objects spanning over 1000 years. The Collection includes the 'David' vases, said to be the best-known Chinese ceramics in the world, two tall blue and white porcelain vases whose importance is the fact that they are inscsribed with the maker and the date 1351 - astonishing works of art for that date, compared to European art at the time. It is an amazing collection that shows the quality of work being produced across China and also how some things never change - some of the bowls for example have contemporary shapes and could have been made yesterday.

Probably the finest collection of Chinese ceramic art anywhere in the world (certainly outside China). Virtually all the pieces are exceptionally fine and some exceptionally rare, especially Song dynasty Ru ware.