The British Museum has launched an investigation into how a 300-year-old Qing dynasty porcelain bowl fell off its mount in its display cabinet and landed on a lower shelf, damaging both the bowl and a ceramic box.  

Initial indications are that there was nobody in the room when the accident happened and there was no building work nearby causing vibrations.

The breakages have been widely reported in China with many taking to social media to express their anger and dismay as well as starting a debate over how museums should protect their precious objects.

One woman on the Chinese video platform Red Note, sometimes referred to as 'China's Instagram', posted images of the broken objects saying: "Our porcelain survived the war yet shattered in the British Museum. This incident has left many people both angry and regretful."

In another video, Ma Weidu, Chinese antiques collector and founder of Guanfu Museum, demands to know what caused the accident.

"Why was it smashed in the first place? One reason is the way the objects were displayed. At the British Museum, bowls are displayed on their side on a mount, which I think is completely unnecessary and led to the disaster," he declared.

In a statement the British Museum acknowledged the bowl fell from its shelf but said: "The shelf and mount show no sign of failure but we will continue to investigate how this happened... We take the care of objects incredibly seriously and have stringent measures in place within cases to protect from such incidents occurring."

The British Museum is home to some 8 million objects, dedicated to human history, art and culture. Ten years ago, a report found there were 263 incidents where objects were damaged over the previous decade, roughly half of which were graffiti.

Three years ago, the Museum's director had to resign after some 2,000 objects were discovered missing or damaged allegedly stolen by a senior member of staff. 

The two damaged porcelain pieces are now being restored at the British Museum's conservation department.

The blue and white bowl dates from the Kangxi period of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. It’s a copy of a 15th century Ming porcelain bowl depicting women in a garden admiring a painting, playing a traditional stringed instrument, and taking part in board games.

The other is a circular blue and white porcelain box with a low domed cover from the same period, which is decorated with fruit and flowers.

Both pieces were made in Jingdezhen, a city in China's Jiangxi province. Emperor Kangxi was famous for restoring and updating the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen, a period renowned for the technical perfection of its porcelain production.

These objects are part of the billion dollar Sir Percival David collection donated last year to the British Museum, believed to be the largest display of imperial Chinese porcelain outside of China.

According to Chinese porcelain experts the two broken objects were minor pieces within the collection. The damaged bowl and box were both worth several thousand dollars, compared to the multi-million dollar Ming vases, which all remain unharmed.