| Summary: | In the Asian and European crossroads gallery, on the first floor of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, the visitor is greeted by a large, Chinese, pottery camel. The braying camel stands proudly in a display cabinet with a second, much smaller, camel and other artefacts symbolic of the travel and transport connections between East Asia and the West along the ancient Silk Roads. Modestly labelled ‘Model of a camel, Tang Dynasty, China, soft whiteware, painted. Baxandall loan, EALI891.1’, there is, however, much more to this camel than initially meets the eye. Though there was no record of it in the Ashmolean archives, the camel was once the property of refugee academic Professor Paul Jacobsthal. In this article, the forgotten history of the object and the owner who brought it to Oxford is traced. This history offers a timely insight into the links between Oxford and its WWII refugee academic community, as well as reminder that the legacy of those who found refuge in Oxford is in danger of being lost.
|
|---|