South Asian Decorative Arts & Crafts Collection

The Old Skating Rink Gallery has permanent displays and changing exhibitions of decorative arts and crafts from South Asia, from the collection of the SADACC Trust. Mainly dating from the 19th and 20th centuries and with a focus on the ordinary and the everyday, the exhibitions include paintings, hand-carved objects, furniture and textiles which give an insight into provincial and rural life in the Indian sub-continent and adjacent countries. At a time when many traditional crafts are declining as a result of globalization, the SADACC Trust (affiliated to the University of East Anglia through the Sainsbury Institute for Art) aims to record and promote an interest in the arts, crafts and culture of South Asia and neighbouring regions. 

As soon as you step into this small museum, with a large museum shop – Country & Eastern – you are immediately transported from the east of England to the Orient. Vibrant colourful rugs and carpets, exquisite wooden carvings, lacquered furniture, textiles, and decorative and unusual objects jostle for attention underneath the vast timber roof of this former Victorian Skating Rink. A visit to this museum is a feast for the eyes. Make sure you take time to enjoy the building itself as much as the objects within it. 

The collection focuses primarily on South Asia and to a lesser extent on neighbouring countries of Afghanistan, Burma, Thailand and Indonesia. Currently it contains approximately 4000 items. These include paintings, prints, textiles, metal work and ethnographic items.  Unlike the majority of other collections, it concentrates on the everyday or vernacular rather than high status objects. There continues to be an active policy of acquisition usually sourced from UK auction houses.

Talks and tours can be arranged for groups on request.