The Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum tells the lives of 10 extraordinary stories from the world's leading museum of art and design. William Morris expressed his particular admiration for the beautiful Ardabil Carpet and was one of the most vocal advocates for its acquisition by the museum. The first of the ten items is a copy of Trajan's Column, acquired in 1864 and made in the same year, of a plaster cast in three dimensions. It reproduces the famous Roman original, a triumphal monument built to commemorate Emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars AD 101-2 and 105-6. The technique of moulding and casting was developed thousands of years ago. Other sculpture, metalwork, and ceramics are highlighted from the collection, including a Virgin and Child in terracotta and a Greek flower vase, and a most beautiful tiara of sapphires and diamonds. The Raphael Cartoons were a revolution in design and have been on loan since 1865, and they were made in 1515-16. They were large compositions enjoyed in the Raphael Court, a cycle of fresco decorations depicting the life of Christ on the one side and the life of Moses on the other, beneath a row of papal portraits, and all are in splendid colour. Collection highlights from paintings, drawings, and prints include an Aubrey Beardsley, J. M. W. Turner, and a Constable in close-up detail. Tipu's Tiger, made 1794, is a famous wooden tiger made in the late 18th century for Tipu Sultan, the Muslim ruler of the south Indian Kingdom of Mysore. The almost life-sized wooden beast crouches over a feebly resisting European soldier, sinking its fangs into his neck. Shakespeare's First Folio, published 1623, is one of the V&A's all-time favourites and central to this story of its survival is a book of plays, one of the most influential works ever published. Collection highlights from theatre and performance include Joey the War Horse Puppet from the 2009 play, and Pete Townshend's Broken Les Paul Guitar. Auguste Rodin donated 16 sculptures, one marble and one terracotta, to the V&A in 1914, and it remains their greatest gift made by a living artist. The Great Bed of Ware, made 1590-1600, was the largest and most expensive piece of furniture acquired by the museum, for £4,060, or approximately £250,000 today. It has a dark headboard showing oak carving, with traces of original paint and a marquetry panel, and is an Elizabethan tester bed of unusually large size, over three metres wide and long. A Fold-Up Chair, made in the 1930s by Eileen Gray, is made of strips and blocks of wood, canvas and metal rods, and is closely entwined with its creator, the self-taught Irish designer and architect. An Evening Ensemble, by Elsa Schiaparelli, is made of silk velvet with rhinestones, sequins and silver gilt thread, fastened with metal buttons, and acquired in 1974. 272 large and beautifully decorated pages, with dozens of full-page colour images, a museum on your lap.
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