Exhibiting Miss Tanner’s Collection at Holburne Museum

Subject Specialist Network: Islamic Art and Material Culture.

The Islamic Art and Material Culture Subject Specialist Network (SSN) was founded in 2013. Hosted by Birmingham Museums Trust, the Network has delivered many successful events to enhance knowledge and best practice around Islamic collections amongst its two hundred members.  The Islamic Art and Material Culture SSN received Arts Council England Support between 2015-18 . One aspect of the project was management of a bursary scheme for museums which granted twelve museums funding to improve the care for, understanding of, and access to their Islamic art collections.

One of the recipients was Holburne Museum in Bath, which planned an exhibition of the Tanner collection of Middle Eastern objects. The collection, donated by Miss Ellen Georgiana Tanner in the early 1900s, constitutes the majority of the museum’s Islamic collection. Tanner was a Victorian lone-traveller who journeyed through the Middle East in the 1890s, collecting woodwork, metalwork, lacquer and textiles. The objects in the Holburne collection are accompanied by Tanner’s diaries of her experiences, enhancing their interpretation and appeal. 

The images on this page are examples of the SSN funded project to commission professional photographs of items in the collection.

The Islamic Art and Material Culture SSN was able to support Holburne Museum with a bursary of £3,500. This supported curatorial work to make the objects more accessible, including photography for digital access. The Network provided expert support in the form of Professor Allan, a specialist in Persian history and art. Professor Allan enabled the museum to translate inscriptions, verify provenance and era, and identify the most significant objects. The museum staff became much better informed about conservation techniques and collections management priorities. As part of the exhibition project, Holburne Museum worked with refugees for the first time, consulting them on the skills they wished to learn, and inviting them to view some of the objects prior to public display. Following advice from the Network and Neil Stevenson’s Engagement Report, the museum will continue to build relationships, provide quality events, and form partnerships with local organisations.

Holburne Museum is in conversations with a number of other UK museums which hold objects donated by Tanner, to open the possibility of future collaborative projects.

For more information about the Network and the museum visit:

Islamic Art and Material Culture Subject Specialist Network



Holburne Museum