Oxford’s historic Ashmolean Museum celebrates Father’s Day with coffee, cufflinks and creativity

This June, Britain’s first public museum, Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, celebrates Father’s Day with a wonderfully eclectic gifting edit which champions artistry, craftsmanship and the natural world. From Ashmolean Coffee to Hand Painted Grecian pottery the Ashmolean Shop has a wide range of gifts available for all ages, budgets and tastes – please find below our Top 10.

 

Rampley Pocket Squares | From £85.00

Crafted by Rampley & Co., these stunning pocket squares feature artwork from the Ashmolean’s collection. Printed onto the silk with the greatest of care, bringing each artwork to life.

Every pocket square is made using the finest mulberry silk and has hand-rolled edges. It has been designed and printed in England and is presented in a gift box, making it the perfect gift for the ultimate stylish gent.

This pocket square features an artwork by Utagawa Hiroshige, one of the best-known Japanese woodblock print designers. The desolate winter landscape is framed by the outspread wings and claws of a great eagle, who seems to be about to swoop down on prey below. Also available is the Chūsenko Teitokuson Silk Pocket Square and Turner’s High Street Silk Pocket Square.

 

Ashmolean Coffee by Jericho Coffee Traders | RRP £14.50

Jericho Coffee Traders are based at the heart of Oxford’s High Street in a building that was one of the first coffee houses in the city. Inspired by this heritage they have teamed up with the Ashmolean Museum, the world’s first public museum, to create this special heritage coffee which -features notes of stone fruit, raisin, choco, vanilla & cashew, presented in a tin featuring ‘View of the High Street, Oxford’ by J.M.W Turner.

We have a wonderful range of gifts for ‘Foodies’ from £5.00 – £41.00

 

Alfred Jewel Cufflinks | RRP £80.00

 These cufflinks are inspired by the Alfred Jewel, arguably the most famous exhibit on display in Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum. Designed exclusively for the Ashmolean by The Bill Skinner Studio. A great gift for dads, grooms or anyone who loves to wear a good suit.

Each aspect of the original historic artefact has been painstakingly recreated in these precious designer cufflinks, from the filigreed inscription to the hand enamelled central image, thought by experts to represent the sense of sight, and the finishing dragon’s head which, in the case of the original Alfred Jewel, is widely held to have been an aestel, or pointer and therefore likely held a thin ivory stick. This pointer was used to help early Medieval scholars as they carefully followed dense religious texts. These cufflinks follow in the footsteps of the original, combining the useful with the beautiful for a gift that will be treasured for years to come.

 

William Morris Cream Fruit Silk Tie | RRP £38.00

The Morris Cream Fruit Silk Tie pays homage to William Morris’s iconic wallpaper design with its intricate fruit pattern and luxurious silk material.

Specimen of ‘Fruit’ (or ‘Pomegranate’) was originally a wallpaper design by William Morris of fruit tree branches bearing oranges, lemons and pomegranates on a pale ground and was block-printed in distemper colours on paper. The design was one of 23 from a pattern book created by Morris & Co. first issued c.1866.

Please Click here for a selection of Ashmolean Ties & Cufflinks.

 

Antique Flemish Map Journal | RRP £10.99

A high-quality and ornamental journal showcasing The World Map by Pieter van den Keere.

The cover is printed on foil in five colours, embossed, then foil stamped. It’s a powerfully practical notebook, with a pocket at the back for receipts and scraps, two bookmarks and a solid magnetic side flap.

Pieter van den Keere (1571–c. 1646) was a Flemish engraver, publisher and globe maker who came to England as a Protestant refugee. Settling in Amsterdam in 1593, he continued to work and began engraving a series of miniature county maps for the British Isles Atlas in 1599. His works also include a map of Ireland, urban panoramas of Utrecht, Cologne, Amsterdam and Paris, as well as a collection of world maps.

 

Breugel To Rubens Organic Cotton T-Shirt | £22.00

This navy organic cotton t-shirt features an engraving of, The Temptation of Saint Anthony created by Pieter van der Heyden, known for his reproductive engravings. The t-shirt artwork is a negative of his original print, based upon Pieter Bruegel’s drawing created circa 1556.

Both the original drawing (Pieter Bruegel) and print (Pieter van der Heyden) feature in our current exhibition, Bruegel to Rubens: Great Flemish Drawings Available in sizes XS, S, M, L, XL and XXL.

 

Jade Rabbit Premium Print | £25.00

This premium print depicts Japanese printmaker Tsukioka Yoshitoshi’s 1889 woodblock print work Jade Rabbit – Sun Wukong, an example of work from his One Hundred Aspects of the Moon series (1885-1892). This print pictures the immortal monkey Sun Wukong & his companion is the Rabbit in the Moon, also known as the Jade Rabbit.

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi was a Japanese printmaker and last great master of the ukiyo-e genre, with his career spanning across two eras: the final years of Edo period Japan, and the beginning of modern Japan after Meiji Restoration.

Please Click Here for more Ashmolean prints.

 

Museum Secrets: Hidden Stories from the Ashmolean | £15.00 

Untold and unusual stories from the Ashmolean’s successful podcast series Museum Secrets.

In December 2020, spirits were low. The first tentative visitors had only just made it back through the doors of the Ashmolean after months of isolation, only for another lockdown to come crashing into view. The galleries went dark for a second time in a year. There’s something uncanny about standing in the Museum when it’s empty of visitors. You can sense a million human stories all around you, clamouring to be told to… no-one. So, we had to change tack. If we couldn’t get people into the building, we could get the stories out.

From bedrooms and garden sheds and kitchen tables, the Ashmolean team started recording themselves, sharing stories of joy and resilience to help keep us all going through the dark winter months of quarantine. The result was a podcast, Museum Secrets, and this book contains the highlights. These are stories you won’t find on the labels. These are stories of the human experiences hidden in the Museum’s cases and frames. They are stories that cheered us up when we needed it most, and we hope will continue to do so.

 

Minoan Octopus Amphora Vase | £115.00

Hand painted in Greece, this vase is a copy of Minoan marine style amphora dated to 1500 B.C. exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion in Crete, Greece.

Marine style, an innovation of Cretan pottery, developed around 1500 BC and characterised by the depiction of octopuses and other sea creatures. The Minoan painter of this vessel filled the centre with a charming octopus, swimming diagonally, with tentacles extended out to the full perimeter of the vase and wide eyes. Around this creature’s limbs we find sea urchins, coral, and triton shells.

 

Artful Ink Kit | £50.00

This Artful ink box kit features a variety of tools that enable you to master the medium of ink & create stunning artwork with ease. Accompanied with a useful how to magazine, which walks you through the process with tutorials from professional artists, templates and lots of other inspiration.

The kit includes:

  • 1 x Artful: Let’s Learn Ink Magazine
  • 1 x Artful A4 25 Sheet Premium Watercolour Paper Pad
  • 4 x Blank Greeting Cards
  • 3 x Water Brush Pens
  • 2 x Art Brushes
  • 5 x Acrylic Coloured Inks
  • 1 x Indian Ink
  • 1 x Wax Crayon
  • 1 x Fineline Marker Pen
  • 1 x Faber Castell Pencil
  • 1 x Chinagraph Pencil

Hi-res images available on request

ENDS

For more information, please contact Charlie Davey | charlie@likemindedpr.com For inquiries regarding distribution and retail partnerships, please contact carrie.hickman@ashmus.ox.ac.uk.

EDITOR NOTES

ABOUT THE ASHMOLEAN

Founded in 1683, the Ashmolean is the University of Oxford’s Museum of art and archaeology and is the first public museum in the world. With a rich and varied collection of over 1.2 million objects spanning millennia, the world-famous collections range from Egyptian mummies to contemporary art, telling human stories across cultures and across time. Admission to the museum is free.

ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM | BRAND LICENSING

The Ashmolean Museum’s brand licensing activity has been represented since 2020 by Ian Downes at Start Licensing. The five new licensees who have recently come on board are:

Atlantic Mats who are developing a range of mats inspired by objects from the Museum. Atlantic Mats have developed a range of doormats and runners inspired by Ashmolean artefacts such as Iznik tiles and a Jali screen. The Museum has a set of 48 glazed ceramic tiles in its Eastern Art Collection whilst the Jali screen is part of a set of Mughal screens that the Museum believe were used to display Indian Art in the nineteenth century. Atlantic Mats products are made with components including regenerated nylon from waste such as fishing nets and the company has a heavy focus on being a sustainable business.

China Petals are developing a range of mosaic kits with designs inspired by artefacts from the Ashmolean Museum. The kits come with all the elements needed to complete a project including mosaic tiles, grout and glue. There are three products in the Ashmolean range including a Flower Mosaic Coaster Kit with the featured design sourced from a block printed textile fragment and a butterfly mosaic kit inspired by a design from the Museum’s Worcester Porcelain collection.

Jericho Coffee Traders are the latest beverage company to partner with Ashmolean. Coffee drinking has been a mainstay of Oxford life since the seventeenth century. Jericho Coffee Traders are based at the heart of Oxford’s High Street in a building that was one of the first coffee houses in the city. Inspired by this heritage, the Ashmolean have teamed up to present a special heritage blend. The blend is sold in a tin that features Turner’s painting of Oxford High Street which is part of the Ashmolean’s collection.

The Indian Block Print Company is a successful Oxfordshire-based company producing the most exquisite block printing kits. The Ashmolean has a rich collection from South Asia, which is helping to inspire creativity. Each block is authentically carved in collaboration with Indian carvers using a sustainable model.

Gibson’s Organic Liqueurs are developing a range of Liqueurs using ingredients such as Crab Apples. Gibson’s are based in Oxfordshire. Gibson’s multi-awarding winning liqueurs are made using only fruit and flowers grown on their organic farm. They join a growing selection of food and drink licensees. The Ashmolean already work with locally based gin producer The Oxford Artisan Distillery, Hook Norton Brewery another local firm who have brewed an Ashmolean Ale and Team Tea another Oxfordshire based company who have created the Ashmolean Tea Blend.

Ian Downes from Start Licensing the Ashmolean’s licensing agency commented “It is very satisfying to see these new licensees come on board. They are joining a licensing programme that is enjoying great success both in qualitative and quantitative terms. Existing licensees such as Park London have delivered successful apparel collections across a range of retailers whilst Graphenstone Paints have picked up a number of industry awards for their Ashmolean paint collection. These new licensees dovetail well with some of the key objectives we have including working with local Oxfordshire businesses and being proactive where possible around sustainability. It is also great to be working with a number of ‘new to licensing’ companies — they bring fresh thinking and are reaching new market sectors. It is also good to see core categories like arts and crafts plus home interiors growing as well”.

 Contact details:

For more details please contact: Ian Downes at Start Licensing 07776 228454 | ian@startlicensing.co.uk

For further details, or how to work with the Ashmolean please contact:

Dec McCarthy, Head of Publishing and Licensing: dec.mccarthy@ashmus.ox.ac.uk or Carrie Hickman, Publishing and Licensing Manager: carrie.hickman@ashmus.ox.ac.uk