The V&A does not specialise in African art. When the Museum was established in the 19th century, many people viewed African art and design as 'ethnography' rather than 'art'. So because the V&A was an art museum, its collecting policy did not specifically include African objects, though some were acquired as examples of skills or techniques.

More recently the collection has expanded to include work by black artists from Africa and the rest of the world. Today the V&A has over 3000 objects of relevance to black heritage, art and culture, including the work of black contemporary artists and representations of black people in European art.

In the Prints and Drawings room at the top of the museum there are three blue folders containing a note of, and images of, all the material in the museum relating to the African diaspora. Anyone can visit the Prints and Drawings room without an appointment, and request to look at the originals. After you have placed your order, the materials are generally put in your hands within about 15 minutes.

The Museum now runs a Black heritage programme - you can see the details below.

Black Heritage programme at the V&A

Resource box on cultural identity

The V&A acquired its first group of Chinese artefacts in 1852. After more than 150 years of continuous active acquisition the Chinese collection now boasts over 22,000 objects, with fine examples from all branches of Chinese art including ceramic, jade, metalwork, lacquer, textile, furniture, sculpture, ivory, bamboo, rhinoceros horn, glass, painting and print. The Chinese collection also covers the longest time span, the oldest object being a white earthenware wine vessel made in 2500 BCE and the latest a chair made in Beijing in 2004.

It is worth mentioning that in the 1850s art critics and social commentators in Britain were not particularly enthusiastic about Chinese art. China had just lost the first Opium War (1840-1842). Appearing to be militarily and politically weak, China was thought to have degenerated in her arts as well. It was thanks to the more discerning collectors and curators that Chinese decorative art did not disappear from the acquisition programme of the South Kensington Museum (predecessor of the V&A). Quite the contrary, the Museum was shrewd enough to seek the service of Stephen Bushell (1844-1908), physician to the British legation in Beijing and self-taught expert in Chinese art, to acquire on its behalf some of the most beautiful porcelains of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Gifts and bequests from 19th-century British collectors contributed to make the V&A collection of Chinese ceramics one of the largest in Europe. To cite just one example 1405 pieces were bequeathed to the Museum in 1909 by one individual, the great collector George Salting. The strength of the V&A Chinese ceramics is universally recognized, to the extent that during the years when China closed her doors to the outside world the V&A became the major centre where Chinese ceramics could be studied.

The Museum also holds significant quantities of Chinese jades and silks, two materials that had strong appeal to Victorian Britain. Some jade pieces are unique, such as the torso of a horse from the Han dynasty and a box in the shape of eight geese carved from one single block of pale green nephrite. In metalwork the V&A houses important ritual vessels from the Shang, Zhou and Han dynasties, bronze vases from the Song and Yuan, and cloisonné from the Ming and Qing. The magnificent ice chest from the Qianlong period is widely published. Superb examples of lacquers are plentiful, ranging from the exquisite Southern Song silk-cored bowlstand to the spectacular 18th-century carved cinnabar lacquer throne. Last but not least is a group of elegant hardwood furniture from the Ming dynasty, of such breadth and high quality that it is designated the national collection of Chinese furniture.

About 600 choicest pieces are shown in the T.T. Tsui Gallery of Chinese Art on the ground floor, which was opened to the public in 1991. Mr Tsui is a businessman and philanthropist based in Hong Kong. Visiting the V&A in the 1980s he was so impressed by the Chinese collection that he wanted to give the Museum a completely new gallery to display them.

A separate gallery is dedicated entirely to artefacts made in China for the western market, generally referred to as ‘export art’. A porcelain pagoda 276 centimetres tall, a splendid 12-leaf Coromandel screen and paintings showing Chinese men and women engaged in a hundred different occupations are a few examples of objects that do not exist in China today but are preserved in the UK. The importance of these Chinese export artefacts is increasingly being recognized as the best resources for the study of Sino-Europe trade before the 20th century.

Explore Chinese objects from the V&A online

The Japanese collection at the V&A is extensive and varied, numbering in excess of 42,000 objects. The items are predominantly from the Edo period but there are some good representative earlier objects and a well-documented collection of pieces acquired from the great exhibitions of the late 19th century. For example the Museum acquired from the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876 a huge collection of ceramics chosen to represent the entire history of Japanese ceramics.

The collections also hold, particularly following a period of active collecting over the last 15 years, a good representative collection of contemporary works in many varied media. The collections today therefore range in period from Heian to the contemporary and include metalwork (arms and armour, mirrors, decorative inlay, figurative works, religious items and over 5,000 sword fittings), graphic works (including some 28,000 prints and printed books, as well as a few paintings, scrolls and screens), textiles (including court wear, country textiles, textiles for performance religious items and textile samples), ceramics (of all types), wooden objects including furniture, lacquer ware (including inro and some world-famous examples of export lacquer) and sculpture pieces (that include masks for performance as well as carvings such as okimono and netsuke).

The Museum began an active programme of collecting from the 1850s - the first Japanese items to come into the collection were a group of modern Nagasaki lacquer purchased from Hewitts and Co. of Fenchurch Street, London.

In 1860 Queen Victoria gave the Museum a collection of Imari porcelain formerly in the Japanese Palace at Dresden. In 1865, Queen Victoria donated another group of items from the diplomatic gift given to her in 1860 from Tokugawa lemochi. They included swords, splendid Oyoroi armour as well as textiles, lacquer ware and ceramics. Many objects given to the V&A by Queen Victoria were donated in turn to what was then the Royal Museum in Edinburgh (now the National Museums of Scotland).

Royal and diplomatic relations are the source of many Japanese objects held in the V&A. For example, there is a sword by Tomomitsu, dated equivalent to 1335, which was especially mounted for presentation to Sir Harry Parkes, Britain's first accredited minister in Japan, by the Emperor Meiji at a private audience in 1872.

In the early 20th century, the V&A benefitted from many significant gifts and bequests of Japanese objects, most notably the Salting bequest of metalwork and sword fittings, lacquer ware and netsuke and in 1931 the extraordinary Hildburgh gift of over 2,500 items of Japanese metalwork - these were mostly sword fittings.

The V&A's Toshiba Gallery of Japanese art opened in 1986. The display is a permanent one, although sections are redisplayed from time to time.

This is a shortened version of the V&A entry in Gregory Irvine's 'Guide to Japanese Art Collections in the UK' available from the Japan Society or booksellers.

Japanese bronzes of the Meiji peiod in the V&A collection

Fashioning Kimono: dress in early 20th century Japan

The V&A has never systematically collected textiles from Central or South America but has some holdings from the following countries:

Mexico: approximately 120 Mexican items, mostly nineteenth century lace and embroidered samplers and borders, but also includes some Mexican dress, such as shawls and belts, again mostly nineteenth century and twentieth century.

Guatemala: a small (approximately 40 items) but very important collection of nineteenth century Guatemalan woven textiles collected by Alfred Maudslay during the 1890s, including many items of dress such as Tzutes (headclothes) and Servilletas (both headclothes and utility cloths for wrapping food etc), shawls and belts.

Brazil: some twentieth century Brazilian furnishing fabrics and a significant number of nineteenth century Brazilian lace samples.

Peru: a particularly strong collection of pre–Colombian (pre-1533) textiles, including Peruvian dress, furnishings and more functional objects such as bags, slings and towels. The collection also includes some of the first Peruvian woollen embroidery, dating from 500-100 BC. Excavated from burial sites during the 1920s, the intricate designs of surviving fragments of shrouds or garments reveal not only early production techniques but also the cultural significance of textiles within traditional burial rituals.

There is also a large number of sixteenth century spindles and thread samples shedding light on methods of production during the period

The V&A's has a resource box on cultural identity in its Prints and Drawings room. This box contains photographs that deal with issues of cultural identity. It explores the work of black, Asian and Middle Eastern photographers and of white photographers who have worked in cultures other than their own.

You can explore a selection of the images by following the link below.

Resource Box on cultural identity online

The V&A have over 200 Hungarian pieces in their dress and textile collections, although many of these are small accessories.

There is a display of traditional European embroidered and woven textiles in gallery 96, this includes a group of six Hungarian pieces. In gallery 99 there is a spectacular 18th century embroiderered kerchief. (Visitors are advised to check that galleries 95-97 are open before making a visit.)

Three of the costume pieces are illustrated in Jennifer Wearden's Dress in Detail from around the World (V&A, 2002). These are part of the stored collections which researchers can request to make an appointment to see by contacting the textiles and fashion department (textilesandfashion@vam.ac.uk).

Hungarian objects digitised online by the V&A

The V&A hold about 200 items from Afghanistan, and although none of these are on display, you can see a handful of them online.

The vast majority of these items date from the 19th century, and include arms, ammunition, textiles and jewellery. Throughout the late Victorian period the British were intermittently trying to gain control of Afghanistan. Some of the arms are dated very precisely between 1878 - 80 - that is, the time of the Second Afghan War. A hexagonal wooden panel with floral arabesques is said to have been taken from the gateway of Ghuzni during the First Afghan war around 1842.

There are three Buddhist sculptures from Hadda. There are also a couple of early items that are specifically Islamic, one is a late 12th or early 13th century buckler with inscriptions calling for God's blessing.

Textiles include embroidered items, a 19th century burkha, clothing items made from leather. One of the most recent acquisitions are two 1993 Paul Smith suits, made of a patchwork of textiles from Afghanistan.

The V&A have a small number of Afghan objects on display online including textiles, drawings and paintings. There's also a medieval drinking jug - dated 866 in the Muslim calendar, and inscribed with poetry. You can find more about all of these by clicking the link below.

Some Afghan objects from the V&A

The Victoria & Albert Museum holds only a handful of Kurdish objects - carpets and photographs.

There are 13 carpets (some are fragments), from Iraq, Persia and Turkey. Most are 19th century and one is 18th century. There are also two knitted socks from the 1930s.

The photographs are held by the Prints and Drawings room, and they are all part of a series called "Kurdistan et la Caucase". They were photographed between 1891 - 1893, all the images are in a single album, the photographer is anonymous. The pictures show scenes and people taken across the region, some of Kurdish people, others of Armenians, Georgians, Russians, Persians and Tartars. The V&A rediscovered the book in their collections in 1980 - there is no record of how it came to be in the museum.

Anyone can see these pictures by going to the Prints and Drawings room on the 5th floor of the V&A. You do not need an appointment, and the original images will generally be put into your hands within about 15 minutes. It is likely that these photos are all contained in a single album.

The V&A has a number of prints, drawings and paintings relating to Gypsy and Traveller culture.

Josef Koudelka spent many years photographing gypsies, and the V&A holds around 20 Koudelka images. They were taken in the 60s and 70s and show the Gypsy population in what was Czechoslovakia.

Other pictures in the V&A show English images from the very beginnings of photography. Fourteen photographs by Sidney Richard Percy taken around 1850 show Gypsy girls with buckets and sheaves of corn. Another taken by Swindley Brooks in 1861 shows Granny Buckland, the Queen of the Berkshire gypsies, aged 85. A 1965 picture by Tony Boxall shows the interior of a Romany Gypsy caravan, the image combining souvenir horseshoes and ornaments with a TV set in the centre of the image.

There are also about a two dozen prints relating to Gypsies. Some are scenes of caravans and fortune-telling. Amongst the pictures is an image by J Faber of Bampfylde Moore Carew (1693 - 1759). Known as 'King of the Beggars', Bampfylde Moore Carew was the son of Rev. Theodore Carew of Bickley in Devon. Attracted by the charms of a wild life he joined the Gypsies with whom he became very popular, and they elected him as their King. He is shown pirate-like and has a chubby face.

The painter Augustus John (1878 - 1961) had a keen interest in Gypsy culture and was a member of the Gypsy Lore Society. The V&A holds one drawing by John called 'A Mission to the Gypsies' which shows a man with a top hat and stick interrogating a Gypsy woman who has a baby in her arms. The two are surrounded by Gypsy men and women onlookers who are all barefoot.

You can view the originals of all these images by ordering them in the V&A's Prints and Drawings room on the 5th floor of the museum. You do not need an appointment, and once you have ordered the image you want to look at, it is generally put into your hands within 15 minutes.

Photographs by Koudelka on the V&A website

Much of the Australian material in the V&A is contemporary. The museum has recently acquired a few Australian prints by Aboriginal artists. They include one by Peter Narbarlambarl (1999) on temporary display May - November 2006, and Susie Bootja Bootja (2002). They also have three prints c. 2000 by aboriginal artists from the Torres Strait Islands, Dennis Nona, Billy Missi and David Bosun.

The museum also holds a small group of other prints in the collection by White Australian artists which were acquired at the time of a display of Contemporary Australian Prints in the 1970s. Visitors however are advised to arm themselves with the names of artists whos work they might wish to see.

The prints and drawings department includes a number of works by Charles Conder - who lived in Australia for 15 years towards the end of the 19th century. A suburb of Canberra is still named after him.

The photography collection contains some early photographs of Australia, taken in Beechworth by Algernon Hall, 1866. The museum also has a number of other 19th century topographical albums showing Australia and New Zealand. The museum's modern photographs include pictures by Australian photographer Lewis Morley, famous for the iconic sixties photograph of Christine Keeler.

All of this original material can be seen by ordering it in the Prints Study Room open 10 - 5, Tues. - Sat. The room is open to all without an appointment - take a lift to the fifth floor to find it.

Much material was collected by the V&A before the independence of Australia at the turn of the 20th century. So earlier Australia-produced material has not been catalogued as such - there may be far more Australian material in the museum than the curators can quantify without in-depth research.

Lewis Morley talks about taking his iconic picture of Christine Keeler

A few Australian objects, mostly modern design, held by the V&A

Buddhist artefacts in the Stein Collection

The Far Eastern Section at the V&A acts as custodian for nearly 700 objects (of which around 600 are textile fragments) which were retrieved in the chain of abandoned oasis settlements along the Silk Road. The entire area now falls within the boundaries of the People's Republic of China in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The Stein collection comprises a wide variety of different techniques and materials, and embraces examples of domestic textiles to sacral silk. Not all is Buddhist votive material - a great part would have been for everyday use. The material from Dunhuang, or the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, were probably all for use in Buddhist ceremonies and devotions, so were the objects from Miran which date from 3 – 500AD. (Miran is not to be confused with Miran Fort which was a Tibetan soldier stronghold).

Many of these textile fragments are too slight and fragile for public display, but you can see them on the V&A website here. Choose 'search the collections' and then type 'Dunhuang' or 'Miran' in the search box to see the textiles from those sites. The objects include complete and fragmented banners, canopies and valances.

A few pieces collected by Stein are in the galleries: there is a banner in the Tsui Gallery (Gallery 44) and about 25 fragments on display in Gallery 98.

The V&A's Helen Persson will be publishing a book in 2007 with further information about the Stein material.

Many more non-textile artefacts collected by Stein from Dunhuang and elsewhere are held at the British Museum.

Highlights of the V&A's Buddhist displays chosen by the curators

The V&A has been collecting Islamic art since the museum first opened in the 1850s, when it was much influenced by the architect and designer Owen Jones. During the 19th century, the government spent considerable sums buying excellent examples of Islamic art. During the 20th century generous bequests have added to the collections.

The result is a collection of over 10,000 objects spanning from the beginnings of Islam to recent times. 400 of these objects have recently been redisplayed in the V&A's new Jameel Gallery of Islamic art. These displays cover objects from Islamic Spain through to modern day Pakistan. The adjacent gallery also shows objects from Mughal India.

Some of the highlights of the new displays include:

The Ardabil carpet was commissioned as one of a pair by the ruler of Iran, Shah Tahmasp, for the shrine of his ancestor, Shaykh Safi al-Din, in the town of Ardabil in north-west Iran. It is the world’s earliest dated carpet, since it is inscribed at one end with the date 946 in the Muslim calendar, which is equivalent to 1539-40. Its whole surface is covered by a single unified design, an outstanding achievement in any period.

· The sword of Shah Tahmasp. This impressive weapon was made for the same great patron of the arts as the Ardabil carpet. It is inscribed with a long, very elegant inscription from the Qur’an on the subject of ‘Victory’. Another inscription gives the lineage of Shah Tahmasp, tracing it back to Musa al-Kazim, a descendant of Muhammad.

· Mosque lamp from the Süleymaniye mosque in Istanbul. This dramatic object, made c. 1557, is the earliest example of Iznik pottery with under-glaze decoration in red, a difficult colour to produce.

· The Isfahan cope. This unique Church vestment was made in Isfahan, Iran, in the 17th century. It is similar to a Western cope in its semi-circular form, but it was worn by an Armenian priest to celebrate Mass. The design includes Islamic elements such as scrollwork motifs as well as Christian iconography.

· The rock crystal ewer from Egypt was made c. 1000-50 for the treasury of the ruling Fatimid caliphs. It was carved with consummate skill from a single large piece of extremely hard, perfectly transparent rock crystal – in places it is only a few millimetres thick. On either side a bird of prey overcomes an antelope, symbolising the caliph’s power.

· Sultan Qa’itbay’s richly decorated minbar (or pulpit) was commissioned for a mosque in Cairo where it was used for the sermons given during the midday prayer on Fridays. The wooden structure is more than six metres high and is notable for its decoration with geometric designs of great beauty and complexity. These were made by fitting together hundreds of small, carefully shaped pieces of wood, many of which are set with carved plaques of ivory.

Sultan Qa’itbay’s basin. Dating from 1468-96, this brass basin bears inscriptions glorifying Sultan Qa’itbay. The Sultan revived the production of inlaid metalwork, which had all but ceased during the 15th century. A brass ewer was also made for the Sultan’s wife and is inscribed with her name, Fatimah. Naming a female patron was rare and the decoration, too, is unusual for the period, as it shows animals.

A tile-top table from Turkey, made about 1560. Many large polygonal tiles survive from the Ottoman period, but this is one of the very few that still serves its original purpose, as a table top. The sides are decorated with ebony, inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl.

· The Málaga ship bowl was produced at the beginning of the 15th century in Málaga, Spain by craftsmen using the lustreware technique invented in Iraq in the 9th century. Much of the lusterware produced in Málaga was exported to cities from London to Cairo, and the bowl may have been intended for a Portuguese client, as it shows a long-haul sailing ship with the arms of Christian-ruled Portugal.

· The Seven Sleepers tilework chimney-piece, made in Istanbul and dated 1731. The names around the hood are those of the Seven Sleepers. Persecuted under the Roman emperor Decius, the Christian men took refuge in a cave. They fell asleep, waking centuries later under Christian rule.

A review of the newly reopened Jameel Galleries