LOANS

LOANS

The Ashmolean Museum supports an active programme of loans to public exhibitions within the UK and around the world every year. We lend a diverse range of items, and are pleased to collaborate with a wide variety of partners locally, nationally and internationally.

We encourage anyone wishing to borrow items from the collections to carefully read our guidance (Procedures for Outward Loan PDF download) and to discuss the loan in advance with the relevant Ashmolean Curator. We also suggest, where possible, making a visit to the Museum to view and discuss the items under consideration.

The Ashmolean has a very busy loan programme. To enable us to suitably consider, approve, schedule and prepare the loan we require a formal written request to be submitted with at least 12 months’ notice for UK loans and 18 months’ notice for international loans.

Please note that we usually apply a cap of seven objects within each loan. Requests for larger groups of objects must be discussed with the relevant Ashmolean Curator (find details on our Contact Us page) with as much advanced notice as possible, and prior to sending the official request. In addition, there are restrictions on the availability of some types of items due to their fragility. These include pastels, paintings on copper, paintings on panel and ivories. Key items in the collections will also not usually be lent other than in exceptional circumstances.

Long Term Loans (more than one year) will be considered where there is a clear purpose or context for the loan, particularly when it will complement the borrower’s collection.

Your official request should be submitted to director@ashmus.ox.ac.uk and registrar@ashmus.ox.ac.uk

The request must include:

A formal written letter for the attention of Director, Xa Sturgis clearly stating Exhibition title, dates, and venue(s)
List of works requested giving sufficient information for identification, including an accession number. Please refer to our online collections: Collections Online
A detailed case for the importance and relevance of each item to your exhibition or display
A completed facilities report, including environmental readings for a recent 4-month period
Name and contact details for the administration of the loan (and at each touring venue, if applicable)

Once received, the applications are subject to a formal assessment procedure. All requests are reviewed and assessed by the Director, relevant Curatorial department, Conservation and the Senior Registrar. Recommendations are submitted to the Board of the Visitors (Trustees) of the Ashmolean Museum for approval. The Visitors meet five times a year, generally in February, May, July, September and December.

Agreed loans are subject to the terms and conditions outlined in our Loan Agreement (Loan Agreement PDF download). No object will be loaned which is in a fragile, poor or unstable condition making it unsuitable for handling, display or transport, or which could deteriorate through changes of temperature or relative humidity.

The Borrower will meet all costs in connection with the loan, which could include (without limitation) administration time, condition reporting, mounting, glazing, framing, mounting, conservation work, materials, packing, and so on. A breakdown of our current fees is available (Current Fee Structure PDF download). In addition, the Museum is introducing a new fee for loans that involve air travel (object and courier travel) based on carbon footprint of the loan (see below).

The Ashmolean Museum is committed to carbon net zero by 2035 in line with Oxford University’s sustainability strategy. To reduce the Museum’s carbon footprint, and to help raise awareness of the impact of aviation, a carbon tax has been introduced on loans that involve air travel. This policy will apply to airfreight and courier travel via air.

For every tonne of CO2e, the Ashmolean Museum will charge an amount in line with the UK Emissions Trading Scheme Net Zero Pathway. The amount for 2025 is £63 per tCO2e.

The carbon tax will be charged alongside the loan fee once the final weight of the shipment has been confirmed. Monies from the tax will be used by the Ashmolean Museum to support its goals of carbon net zero and biodiversity net gain.

Requests for transparency and further information can be made via email at: environmentalsustainability@ashmus.ox.ac.uk

LOANS

LOANS

How to borrow from the Ashmolean's collections

Introduction of Carbon Tax on loans out

Contact us

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