A three-hundred-year-old Jingdezhen porcelain bowl and box were found in shards inside a glass case at the British Museum after the bowl apparently tumbled from its shelf in the display. Staff at the museum are still investigating how the bowl fell, as its mount is undamaged and no one was in the room when it occurred on October 4.
A spokesperson for the museum confirmed that conservators are working to restore both pieces. “We take the care of objects incredibly seriously and have stringent measures in place within cases to protect from such incidents occurring,” he said. The bowl’s label has been replaced with a note indicating that it is undergoing “restoration.”
Chinese visitors posted photographs of the broken pieces on social media, and the images have provoked outrage in China. The South China Morning Post reported that “the incident has sparked debate on Chinese social media over how museums should protect fragile works.” The article also cites Pan Jinyu, a Chinese-speaking tour guide in London, who criticized the lack of coverage by UK media. Pan told the Global Times that when he asked museum staff about the shattered objects, “they seemed surprised that we had seen photos of it, but confirmed to me that porcelain had indeed been broken.”
The pieces are among 1,700 items dating from the third to the twentieth century from the Sir Percival David Foundation. The collection was assembled by British financier Percival David during the 1920s and ’30s, and includes Imperial ceramics from the Qing and Yuan dynasties. Valued at roughly £1 billion ($1.3 billion), it was given to the British Museum in 2025 and is believed to be the highest-value gift received by a UK museum.