Gilbert Collection's new home at V&A
Chrysoprase snuffbox with diamonds and carnelians, c.1765, Berlin Formerly in the collection of Frederick the Great of Prussia © The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The Gilbert Collection of Applied Art, which was moved out of Somerset House last year, now has a brand new home at the V&A.
The new Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Galleries open on 30 June. They will display 500 objects from the collection Sir Arthur gave to the nation in 1996 in a series of four galleries. Instead of being displayed chronologically (as they were at Somerset House), the pieces will be exhibited thematically with separate galleries for gold and silver, portrait miniatures, gold boxes and Italian mosaics.
This is a collection all about costly materials, virtuoso craftsmanship and aristocratic taste. Many of the pieces on show are status symbols, designed to show off their owners’ social position rather than to perform any practical purpose – although the gold boxes were ostensibly used for snuff or small sweets. Many of the pieces have direct connections with important historical figures – Gilbert enjoyed linking his objects with particular people and events – so look out for the snuffbox Philip V of Spain gave to his future wife Elisabetta Farnese and the group of five jewelled boxes belonging to Fredrick the Great of Prussia. Other highlights include two micromosaic vases sycophantally given by Pope Pius VII to Napoleon on his coronation in 1804 and a pair of silver and gilt gates commissioned by Catherine the Great for a church in Kiev.
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