Whit Monday in the District. The Horniman Museum

One newspaper article about the number of visitors to the Horniman Museum during Whit Monday, and new additions to collections.
During the Whit Monday (unknown year), the number of visitors to the Horniman Museum was somewhat small: 1, 018. The situation was much the same for all other London Museums, mostly due to the summer weather making parks and garden much more appealing to the public.
However, the numerous new acquisitions and re-arrangements were greatly appreciated by the members of the public who did prefer to visit the Horniman Museum. In the reception room, a new case containing Chinese and Japanese household deities immediately draws attention. Some striking examples include: Kivanyin, Chinese goddess of Mercy, in the form of an elephant; Yebis, the favourite Japanese household god of daily bread; Daikoku, the Japanese god of reaches and wealth. Various other newly added Oriental items, such as curiously shaped incense burners, bronze trumpet-shaped vases, or a richly coloured enamel dish depicting a peacock, caught the visitor’s attention. There are one or two new additions in other departments as well - for example, the bustard in the Zoological section.

Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk