MUSSE

An extensive antiquities collection has been donated to the University’s Ian Potter Museum of Art by Mr David Adams in memory of his late wife Marion, a former Dean of Arts and long-time lecturer in German Literature at Melbourne.

The collection, gathered from many different countries over the last five decades, includes a 14th century Byzantine ware bowl recovered from a shipwreck in the Mediterranean, and a 3rd century bas-relief depicting Bodhisattvas and Buddha figures.

“The impact of this benefaction is substantial. It represents a 10 per cent increase in the University’s classics collection, and though the volume is significant, it also contributes remarkably to the quality of the University’s antiquities collection,” University Provost Peter McPhee said at the opening of the exhibition on 15 April.

The collection is incredibly diverse, both chronologically and geographically, and the materials from which different pieces are made spans terracotta and wood through to metal and textiles.

The collection is broad is scope, but each piece was collected with a particular culture or period in mind, and includes Etruscan, Athenian and Mesopotamian artefacts.

David Adams explained that his love affair with the ancient world was born at the same time he and his wife were commencing their own love affair – on their honeymoon in Sicily. “We went to all the wonderful Greek sites there and saw the Roman mosaics, the piazzas. It was a turning point for me, and I was committed to the antique world.”

Collecting, he explained, “ became a bit of an obsession – they captivate you so much, you want more”.

At the Potter, the artefacts will be more than exhibited pieces for the public; they will be an invaluable resource for the University’s Centre for Classics and Archaeology, where they will benefit generations of future students, and add unique dimensions to their learning .

The Adams decided at the collection’s inception that they would eventually to leave it to a museum. The University of Melbourne was “a pretty obvious place” to donate it, Mr Adams said, given their history as members of the University community. The building of the Potter with its dedicated Classics and Archaeology Gallery “really swung it for us. It’s a wonderful home to display art,” he explained.

His late wife’s commitment to imparting knowledge to students and the knowledge that the collection will be used in teaching the Arts students who were so much a part of her life was also a strong factor in his decision to donate the collection to the University.

“This exhibition is a tribute to her work, and the impact she had on people. It’s a tribute to her, and in that sense, she will be with us forever.”

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