The city of Oxford is rightly-renowned for the many treasures displayed in its world-famous museums and galleries. However, many of the individual colleges that make up the University have their own, often highly idiosyncratic, collections of art that have been built up over many years. Often given by former students or staff these collections are often little known beyond the college precincts. Matthew Winterbottom, Curator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford will talk about the small but very high quality collection of fine stoneware manufactured by Wedgwood and other makers in Somerville Colleague that was donated in 1939 by a Scottish-American alumna, ER Cochrane. One of the earliest women’s colleges at Oxford, Somerville’s most famous student is Margaret Thatcher and the Cochrane stoneware is proudly displayed in a room overseen by an imposing bust of the former Prime Minister.

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Matthew’s research interests cover a wide range of European decorative arts from the late medieval to the early twentieth centuries. He has over 30 years’ experience working with and researching European decorative arts and has extensive knowledge of metalwork, furniture, ceramics, glass and textiles and sculpture. He is committed to exploring ways of making this material more engaging and accessible to diverse museum visitors.

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He started his career at the Victoria & Albert Museum in the Metalwork and the Furniture and Woodwork Departments. This was followed by 7 years as Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts at the Royal Collection where he co-curated several major exhibitions at The Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace. He was subsequently appointed Curator of Decorative Arts at the Holburne Museum in Bath. He joined the Department of Western Art in the Ashmolean Museum in 2014 and since January 2017, he has been responsible for the entire Western Art Sculpture and Decorative Arts Collections.