Ian Dennis Jenkins (18 February 1953 – 28 November 2020) was a Senior Curator at the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...
who was an expert on ancient Greece and specialised in
ancient Greek sculpture
The sculpture of ancient Greece is the main surviving type of fine ancient Greek art as, with the exception of painted ancient Greek pottery, almost no ancient Greek painting survives. Modern scholarship identifies three major stages in monum ...
.
[ Jenkins published a number of books and over a hundred articles.][Ian Jenkins]
British Museum. Retrieved June 2010. He led the British Museum's excavations at Cnidus
Knidos or Cnidus (; grc-gre, Κνίδος, , , Knídos) was a Greek city in ancient Caria and part of the Dorian Hexapolis, in south-western Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. It was situated on the Datça peninsula, which forms the southern s ...
and was involved in the debate over the ownership of the Elgin Marbles
The Elgin Marbles (), also known as the Parthenon Marbles ( el, Γλυπτά του Παρθενώνα, lit. "sculptures of the Parthenon"), are a collection of Classical Greece, Classical Greek marble sculptures made under the supervision of th ...
.
Career
Ian Jenkins studied at the University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a Red brick university, red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' sc ...
where he read Ancient Greek with Archaeology and Ancient History. He joined the British Museum in 1978, receiving his PhD from the University of London in 1990.
Jenkins had responsibility for the ancient Greek collections at the British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...
. At the Museum he wrote his doctorate on the collection history and reception of the British Museum's Egyptian, Assyrian and Classical sculptures. His thesis was published by the British Museum in 1992 as ''Archaeologists and Aesthetes in the Sculpture Galleries of the British Museum 1800–1939''.
Jenkins divided his research interests between Greek architecture and sculpture and the history of the reception of Classical art and architecture in the modern era. His work on the history of collecting included studies on the Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo
Cassiano dal Pozzo (1588 – 22 October 1657) was an Italian scholar and patron of arts. The secretary of Cardinal Francesco Barberini, he was an antiquary in the classicizing circle of Rome, and a long-term friend and patron of Nicolas Poussin, w ...
and the archive of documents and drawings compiled by the 18th-century antiquary and collector, Charles Townley, which came into the museum's possession in the 1990s.
Jenkins curated many of the permanent galleries at the British Museum including Greek and Roman Life (Room 69), Hellenistic World (Room 22), the Parthenon
The Parthenon (; grc, Παρθενών, , ; ell, Παρθενώνας, , ) is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the goddess Athena during the fifth century BC. Its decorative sculptures are conside ...
galleries (Room 18), and the display of the Bassae
Bassae ( la, Bassae, grc, Βάσσαι - ''Bassai'', meaning "little vale in the rocks") is an archaeological site in Oichalia, a municipality in the northeastern part of Messenia, Greece. In classical antiquity, it was part of Arcadia. Bassae ...
sculptures in the British Museum. He was a major participant in the team responsible for the Enlightenment Gallery (Room 1). He co-curated the special exhibition "Vases and Volcanoes" in 1996, on the life and collection of Sir William Hamilton and his circle.[
In 1998, Jenkins worked on finding ways to make the ]Parthenon Frieze
The Parthenon frieze is the high-relief Pentelic marble sculpture created to adorn the upper part of the Parthenon’s naos. It was sculpted between c. 443 and 437 BC, most likely under the direction of Pheidias. Of the 160 meters (524 ft) ...
accessible to visually impaired people.[Second sight of the Parthenon frieze]
Susan Bird, Ian Jenkins and Fabio Levi, 1998. Retrieved June 2010. He lectured about this and the new archaeological insights that the project had brought about when he was the Samuel Henry Kress
Samuel Henry Kress (July 23, 1863 – September 22, 1955) was a businessman, philanthropist, and founder of the S. H. Kress & Co. five and ten cent store chain. With his fortune, Kress amassed one of the most significant collections of Italian ...
lecturer in ancient art for the Archaeological Institute of America
The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is North America's oldest society and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology. AIA professionals have carried out archaeological fieldwork around the world and AIA has established re ...
in the same year. He was simultaneously a visiting professor at Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...
.
In 2008, Jenkins co-curated an exhibition about the ancient Olympic games for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
.[ The exhibition visited ]Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
. This exhibition was to form the basis of the British Museum's current international touring exhibition, 'The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece'.
Jenkins led the British Museum's excavations at Cnidus
Knidos or Cnidus (; grc-gre, Κνίδος, , , Knídos) was a Greek city in ancient Caria and part of the Dorian Hexapolis, in south-western Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. It was situated on the Datça peninsula, which forms the southern s ...
(Knidos) in Turkey, a site visited by various scholars in the 19th century. Published reports have appeared in '' Anatolian Archaeology'', most recently in 2006.
Jenkins was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(OBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours
The 2010 Birthday Honours for the Commonwealth realms were announced to celebrate the Queen's Birthday on 7 June 2010 in New Zealand, on 12 June 2010 in the United Kingdom, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Sai ...
. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London
A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...
(elected 5 May 1988) and a corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute
The German Archaeological Institute (german: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office of Germany ...
and Archaeological Institute of America
The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is North America's oldest society and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology. AIA professionals have carried out archaeological fieldwork around the world and AIA has established re ...
.[
He died on 28 November 2020 at the age of 67.
]
Elgin Marbles debate
In 1999, Jenkins was asked to comment over a debate concerning the "damage" done to the Elgin Marbles
The Elgin Marbles (), also known as the Parthenon Marbles ( el, Γλυπτά του Παρθενώνα, lit. "sculptures of the Parthenon"), are a collection of Classical Greece, Classical Greek marble sculptures made under the supervision of th ...
. He was quoted as saying, "The British Museum is not infallible, it is not the Pope. Its history has been a series of good intentions marred by the occasional cock-up, and the 1930s cleaning was such a cock-up." Jenkins conceded that cleaning conducted in the 1930s by the Museum was a mistake (they used wire wool), but also claimed that the damage was being exaggerated for political reasons.
Bibliography
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* The Lion of Knidos, British Museum, 2008
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Ian
British curators
1953 births
2020 deaths
Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London
Employees of the British Museum
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London