Soame Jenyns (art historian)

Roger Soame Jenyns (24 April 1904 – 14 October 1976),[1][2][3] who usually wrote his name simply as Soame Jenyns was a British art historian, known as an expert on East Asian ceramics.[3]

For the English writer (1704–1787), see Soame Jenyns.

The eldest son of Roger William Bulwer Jenyns (1858 – 1936), J.P., of Bottisham Hall, Bottisham, Cambridgeshire, by his wife Winifred Pike, daughter of Arthur Pease, M.P., of Hummersknott, Darlington, Roger Soame Jenyns was educated at Eton and at Magdalene College, Cambridge (B.A. 1926).[4] In 1926 he joined the Hong Kong Civil Service.[5] In Hong Kong, he became one of the valuable contributors to the newly established journal, The Hong Kong Naturalist.[6] His articles would often touch on the cultural role of South China's animals and plants.[7]

In 1931, Jenyns left Hong Kong for England, to take up a job at the British Museum,[5] where he served as the Assistant Keeper of Oriental Antiquities until 1967.[8][9] In 1935 he published a well-received book on Chinese painting;[6] later on, he authored several books on Chinese ceramics and jades in which he described many items from the museum's collection.[3]

In 1936, Roger Soame Jenyns inherited the Bottisham Hall estate from his father. Two centuries earlier this had been owned by the writer and politician Soame Jenyns, on whose death it was inherited by his first cousin twice removed, Canon George Leonard Jenyns, great-great-grandfather of Roger Soame Jenyns.[10][11]

Family

On 24 April 1941, Soame Jenyns married Anne Thomson, dau. of Richard Berridge, D.L., J.P., of Screebe, County Galway.[12] They had two sons.[8]

Books by Soame Jenyns
  • A Background to Chinese Painting by Soame Jenyns: with a Preface for Collectors by W. W. Winkworth; London, Sidgwick & Jackson, Ltd., 1935.[6]
  • Jenyns, Soame (1951), British Museum. Dept. of Oriental Antiquities and of Ethnography (ed.), Chinese archaic jades in the British Museum, Trustees of the British Museum
  • Jenyns, Soame (1953), Ming pottery and porcelain, The Faber monographs on pottery and porcelain, Faber and Faber
  • Later Chinese Porcelain: The Ch’ing Dynasty (1644-1912) (London, 1954).;[3] later edition: Jenyns, Soame (1965), Later Chinese porcelain: the Ch'ing dynasty (1644-1912), Faber monographs on pottery and porcelain (3 ed.), Faber and Faber
  • Jourdain, Margaret; Jenyns, Soame (1967), Chinese export art in the eighteenth century (2 ed.), Spring Books (First edition appeared in 1950)
  • Jenyns, Soame; Watson, William (1963), Chinese art; the minor arts: gold, silver, bronze, cloisonné, Cantonese enamel, lacquer, furniture, wood. Volume 1., Volume 2 of The Universe library of antique art. Chinese Art, Universe Books
  • Jenyns, Soame; Watson, William (1965), Chinese art: the minor arts II : textiles, glass and painting on glass, carvings in ivory and rhinoceros horn, carvings in hardstones, snuff bottles, inkcakes and inkstones., Volume 4, Universe library of Antique art, Universe Books

References
  1. Burke's Landed Gentry, 17th edition, 1952, ed. L. G. Pine, pp. 1381-2, 'Jenyns of Bottisham Hall' pedigree
  2. Gov.uk Wills and Probate 1858-1996, URL= https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk Date accessed= 10 May 2019 Surname 'Jenyns', Year of Death 1977, p. 4359, 'JENYNS, Roger Soame, of Bottisham Hall, Bottisham, Cambs., died 14 October 1976'
  3. Qing Ceramics, British Museum
  4. Burke's Landed Gentry, 17th edition, 1952, ed. L. G. Pine, pp. 1381-2, 'Jenyns of Bottisham Hall' pedigree
  5. H. J. LETHBRIDGE (1970), "HONG KONG CADETS, 1862-1941" (PDF), Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, 10: 44, 54
  6. D.J.F. (n.d.), "Book Review: "A Background to Chinese Painting" by Soame Jenyns: with a Preface for Collectors by W. W. Winkworth; London, Sidgwick & Jackson, Ltd., 1935." (PDF), The Hong Kong Naturalist, ?: 96–97
  7. Jenyns, Soame (1930), "The tortoise and the turtle in Kwongtung" (PDF), The Hong Kong Naturalist, 1: 161–163. See also his other articles (search on "Jenyns" at Hong Kong Journals Online), on oysters, birds, lychee, bamboo, and tea in several issues of The Hong Kong Naturalist for 1930 and 1931.
  8. thePeerage.com: A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe. Person Page - 27242. They indicate their source as: Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, editor, Burke's Irish Family Records (London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1976), Berridge, page 106.
  9. Pierson, Stacey (2007), Collectors, collections and museums: the field of Chinese ceramics in Britain, 1560-1960, Peter Lang, p. 195, ISBN 3-03910-538-8
  10. Burke's Landed Gentry, 17th edition, 1952, ed. L. G. Pine, pp. 1381-2, 'Jenyns of Bottisham Hall' pedigree
  11. Bottisham: Manors and other estates
  12. Burke's Landed Gentry, 17th edition, 1952, ed. L. G. Pine, pp. 1381-2, 'Jenyns of Bottisham Hall' pedigree
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