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V&A’S
JEWELLERY COLLECTION
In
1851 the Victoria and Albert Museum bought for £18 a
bracelet by Froment Meurice of Paris which had been in the
Great Exhibition. The Museum has continued to acquire jewellery
ever since and now houses one of the greatest jewellery collections
in the world with more than four thousand objects on exhibition.
The
diverse displays include Indian Mughal jewels set with emeralds
and rubies in the Nehru Gallery, as well as masterpieces in
the British Galleries, which show the only surviving medieval
English gold rosary, and, on loan from a private collection,
the Drake Jewel which was presented by Elizabeth I to Sir
Francis Drake. Most of the collection is on display in the
Jewellery Gallery.
The
Jewellery
Gallery
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Jewellery Gallery centres on the last thousand years of
Western jewellery, but also looks back to Ancient Egypt,
Greece and Rome. |
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Winged
tiara; crystal and chalcedony set in gold;
by Henry Wilson; English; c. 1908. (c) V&A |
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Highlights
include:
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A presentation box made by Fabergé in St Petersburg
for Tsar Nicholas II.
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The Londonderry Jewels on loan from the Marquess of Londonderry
comprising a dazzling diamond corsage brooch made by Garrard
of London in 1854, a yellow diamond which was a present
from Tsar Alexander I, and regalia for the Order of the
Garter. |
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Detail
of a coral and gilt
brass tiara; Italian;
c. 1850-60. (c) V&A |
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Rare medieval ring brooches. |
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The Heneage Jewel, dating from 1595, with its striking
gold profile of Elizabeth I. |
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A set of eighteenth-century diamond bows from the Court
of Catherine II. |
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The Beauharnais emerald necklace which was given by Napoleon
to his adopted daughter in 1806. |
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Renaissance and Archaeological style pieces from the nineteenth
century by Froment Meurice of Paris, John Brogden and
Giuliano of London and Castellani of Rome. |
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Art Nouveau pieces by the French jewellers Lalique and
Fouquet.
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British Arts and Crafts jewellery by C. R. Ashbee, Henry
Wilson and John Paul Cooper.
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Twentieth-century jewellery such as a neckpiece of brass
spirals made by Alexander Calder in Paris (1938) and
a gold foil brooch by Yasuki Hiramatsu (1990).
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How
the collection was formed
The
V&A’s jewellery collection has grown over the last
150 years through purchases and through a vast number of donations
and loans from private individuals. Some donors have given
single objects, like Lord Wakefield who in 1935 presented
the Heneage Jewel through the National Art Collections Fund.
Others have given entire collections: a prime example is a
bequest from Lady Cory, who in 1951 gave a collection of jewels
that included major diamond jewellery from the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries. Dame Joan Evans, a pre-eminent jewellery
scholar, gave more than 800 jewels, ranging in date from theMiddle
Ages to the early nineteenth century.
Advance
bookings available
call 0115 912 9184
or book online -
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