Ballot Archive

04 Nov 2021

Candidate Details

Candidate Name

Rufus Bird

Academic degrees, honours etc.

M.A. (Cantab)

Profession or occupation

Historic Collections Advisor and Curator

Grounds for election

From 1999 until 2010 Rufus Bird was a specialist in the Furniture Department at Christie's where he catalogued many significant country house collections. In 2010 he joined the Royal Household as Deputy Surveyor of The Queen's Works of Art. In 2018 he became Surveyor of The Queen's Works of Art where he remained until 2021. He has published widely on furniture and collecting including the introduction to vol. 2, John Ayers, 'Chinese & Japanese works of art in the collection of HM The Queen', 2016; he co-curated 'Charles II: Art & Power', 2017-18 at The Queen's Gallery and wrote the introduction and a chapter in the catalogue; he wrote a chapter on George IV's method of buying art in 'George IV: Art & Spectacle', 2019-20 (also The Queen's Gallery); he was a co-author of 'Jean-Henri Riesener', 2020 and a member of The Riesener Research project (2016-20); and is a co-author of the forthcoming official history of St James's Palace (with Dr Simon Thurley and Dr Michael Turner).

Signatories

The following Fellows have signed this Blue Paper