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The Whiteley Silver Galleries at Victoria & Albert Museum.

A magnificent collection of European Silver is on display at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) - marking the completion of the museum’s re-display of its famous silver galleries - the largest public collection of silver in the UK.

The gallery of European Silver reopened at the end of 2002, featuring items from 1400 to 1800. It contains over 500 outstanding silver and gold objects, from medieval times to the Napoleonic era.

Rare Pieces

Rare pieces include the medieval Merode Cup and the reliquary of Saint Sebastian, which is the oldest surviving figurative reliquary in the country. The objects on display come from throughout Europe including Scandinavia, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Spain and France.

European Silver 1400-1800 is the third phase of an eight year, £3.75 million project. Predominantly funded by The A.H. and B.C. Whiteley Charitable Trust, the completed galleries are now officially known as the Whiteley Silver Galleries.

The entire silver galleries feature more than 3,500 objects ranging in date from 1400 to a collection of work by leading contemporary designers. The three main areas of the collection are English Silver (pre-1800), European Silver (1400-1800) and International Silver (1800 to the present day).

Among the many treasures to be found in the European Silver Galleries are:

A gold egg cup, that was made in Paris in 1762-3. This superbly crafted egg cup is a masterpiece of early neo-classical design which the Museum bought at auction earlier this year after it had been matched to an almost identical design from an album by the workshop of the goldsmith Jean Ducrollay in the V&A’s print department.

The reliquary of Saint Sebastian which dates from 1497 and is the oldest surviving figurative reliquary in the country. It was bought for the Museum last year with the generous support of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the National Art Collections Fund.

The Merode Cup which is an extremely rare piece of medieval enamelled silver dating from 1400-20. Plique à jour was the most difficult enamel technique to master and the translucent enamels on this cup are the earliest known of their type.

The impressive Aldobrandini Tazza is one of a set of 12 tazze (standing dishes) bearing figures of the first twelve Caesars of Imperial Rome. Made about 1560-70, they are one of the most spectacular groups of 16th century silver to survive. They were owned in the late 16th century by a member of the Aldobrandini family, possibly Ippolito Aldobrandini the Elder, who later became Pope Clement VIII.

he Emperor Domitian stands on a fluted column in the centre of this bowl, which is decorated with scenes from his life. All 12 survive in different collections across the world.

A Spanish Ewer from about 1530 (pictured at the top of the page). The huge handle, part human, part monstrous masks, grips the ewer with claws while a tiny infant putto under the spout stands on the eyebrows of a dragon. It is one of many Hispanic pieces acquired by the V&A between the 1920s and 1950s through the generosity of an American collector Dr W.L.Hildburgh.

Monatsbecher ('month beaker'), Germany (Strasbourg), circa 1550. An inscription in German on this beaker reads 'In January I drink good wine and need fine food for my pleasure', which is illustrated by the lively dining scene in the upper engraved frieze.

A maidservant discreetly warming her bottom by a large stove and men shooting ducks by a river add to the charm of the piece. The goldsmith appears to have based the former scene on a popular woodcut for the month of January by the engraver and designer Hans Sebald Beham.

Design

Around 50 prints and drawings of silver objects are on view in the new gallery, dating from the 16th century to the present day, covering European and British design, chiefly taken from the V&A's own prints and drawings collections.

The display explores the design process (from original sketch to finished object); design sources (for example, prints and other objects) and the designers themselves. 15 original designs are displayed alongside related objects, including an album of printed designs by the 18th century Augsburg goldsmith Johann Erhard Heuglin II, with a silver covered beaker by him from about 1722-6.

Highlights of the English Silver collection (pre-1800) include a spectacular candelabra of Hercules and Iole by Charles Frederick Kandler which was made in London in 1738-9 and The Ashburnham centrepiece, a rare silver tureen on a stand from the mid-18th century made by Nicholas Sprimont.

Time For Tea

A tea service that was used by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at the opening of the Festival of Britain in 1951 designed by Robert Goodden (1909-2002) and a recent acquisition of a teapot, made in 2001 by Robert Foster, a leading Australian contemporary silversmith, are two of the highlights in the International Silver section (1800 to present day) of the gallery.

The recently-restored, highly-colourful 19th century interior decoration of the gallery juxtaposed with the clean modern lines of the displays has been designed by John Ronayne of Ronayne: Design. Admission to the Victoria and Albert Museum is FREE.

For more information on the V&A silver collections, why not visit the museums' official site?

For more things to do and places to visit across the country why not visit our Travel section?

The Whiteley Silver Galleries are open all year round (opening times: 10am to 5.45pm daily, 10am to 10pm Wednesdays and the last Friday of the month). The V&A is located across from the Natural History Museum on Cromwell Road, South Kensington. The nearest underground station is South Kensington (on the Piccadilly, District and Circle lines). Easiest buses to the V&A are the C1, 14 and 74 - which all stop outside the Cromwell Road entrance to the museum.

Guide to images above:

1. (Top of this page) Merode Cup Silver gilt with translucent plique à jour enamel plaques. France. c. 1400-20.

2. (First image in body of text) Pair of gauntlets Decorated with silver and blue gilding, red silk, gold and silver thread. Spanish. c. 1614.

3. (Next image down) Silver-Ewer Spanish (possibly Toledo). c.1530.

4. (Bottom image, close up) Detail of Monatsbecher Silver, engraved. Germany (Strasbourg). c. 1550.

All images ©The Victoria and Albert Museum

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