Last time a Banksy work appeared at the British Museum the street artist had pretended to be a member of staff as he stuck a mock piece of cave art on the wall.
The prank was an embarrassment for curators as the rock, depicting a caveman with a shopping trolley, went undetected for three days in 2005 until Banksy declared the joke on his website.
Yesterday the same work was reinstalled as part of the museum’s I Object exhibition of items that show dissent.
Tom Hockenhull, who co-curated the exhibition with the satirist Ian Hislop, said that the museum had to see the funny side. “The question was, should we be embarrassed because the staff didn’t notice? But actually it was quite well displayed. It was in keeping with the rest of the objects in the gallery.”
The museum gave the work, Peckham Rock, back to the artist soon after it was discovered. Mr Hockenhull said that he hoped visitors would enjoy the joke even if it was at the museum’s expense.