The Bessant Bequest

Bessant exhibition

This exhibition is now closed.

Displayed at the Queen Victoria Art Gallery at Royal Park, from 26 August 2017 to 27 May 2018. 

The Bessant Bequest: A Generous Gift of Tasmanian Decorative Arts showcases the collection of well-known Launceston collectors and antique dealers, Toni and Peter Bessant.

The collection was bequeathed to the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in 2008 and features rare examples of Tasmanian colonial furniture, Campbell's pottery, arts, crafts and textiles.

The exhibition includes an extraordinary double-ended sofa, made in about 1830-35. The unusually large piece is a rare example of the use of blackwood in colonial cabinetmaking.