ABOUT THIS BOOK

A provocative reassessment of a popular narrative that connects museums, the antiquities trade, and theft.

In this thought-provoking new work, historian Justin M. Jacobs challenges the widely accepted belief that much of Western museums’ treasures were acquired by imperialist plunder and theft. The account reexamines the allegedly immoral provenance of Western collections, advocating for a nuanced understanding of how artifacts reached Western shores. Jacobs examines the perspectives of Chinese, Egyptian, and other participants in the global antiquities trade over the past two and a half centuries, revealing that Western collectors were often willingly embraced by locals. This collaborative dynamic, largely ignored by contemporary museum critics, unfolds a narrative of hope and promise for a brighter, more equitable future—a compelling reassessment of one of the institutional pillars of the Enlightenment.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Justin M. Jacobs is professor of history at American University, Washington, DC. His books include The Compensations of Plunder: How China Lost Its Treasures.

REVIEWS

"During the past century or so, an unfortunate dichotomy has developed which divides archaeologists, museums and collectors into two camps. One views them as heroic explorers who rescued long-neglected antiquities that were going to rack and ruin, while the other sees them as rapacious foreign devils grabbing whatever pelf they could acquire for financial gain or imperialistic glory. In this meticulously researched and carefully illustrated volume, historian Jacobs adopts a more balanced, neutral stance which takes a whole panoply of factors into consideration. He convincingly demonstrates that there is no single narrative that can account for the multifarious ways in which archaeological materials ended up in lands other than where they originated, or indeed were destroyed inside the very nations where they were created. Plunder?, rightly posed as a question, provides the reader with a whole range of evidence for complicity from all sides involved in the acquisition."

— Victor H. Mair, professor of Chinese language and literature, University of Pennsylvania

"Jacobs suggests in his lively and provocative Plunder?, not only is the great part of what’s in our museums not the spoils of colonialist theft, it’s there because at the time that these artefacts made their way into Western collections, through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, they did so with the consent of those in charge. . . . His non-judgmental unearthing, via contemporary accounts, of how antiquities were once traded and given rather than plundered, is a riposte to those who believe all museum collections to be illegitimately come by."

— Daily Telegraph

"Jacobs is a historian of antiquities and archaeology who is fed up with 'simplistic bedtime stories' about how museums assembled their collections. He objects to the prevailing discourse that regards Western museums as illegitimate repositories of the spoils of empire. In Plunder?, he shows how that notion is historically inaccurate and imposes a modern ideology—of seeing certain ancient artifacts as priceless national treasures—on people in the past who would have found it alien. Plunder? is a scholarly work, but it is the opposite of dry: Jacobs mounts his argument with verve and a relish in dismantling fashionable dogmas."

— National Review

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction Chapter 1: Presents and Plunder Chapter 2: Dealers Chapter 3: Excavations and Expeditions Conclusion References Select Bibliography Acknowledgements Photo Acknowledgements Index

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