Little things at the V&A

Within the Victoria and Albert museum is an area called The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Galleries. It has been there for a very long time but this month the V&A is featuring it in a special exhibition and it's just stunning.

Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert were successful fashion designers whose company, Rosalinde Gilbert Ltd, operated in London between 1935 and 1949. Arthur and Rosalinde decided to relocate to Los Angeles, California in 1949 and sold their fashion business in the same year, after which Gilbert became a highly successful property developer in LA. They built a villa and furnished it with fashionable works of art. They began actively collecting in the late 1960s and amassed an enviable collection of mosaics, silver, gold boxes and enamel portraits. The V&A became the recipient of their collection in 2008.

There are any number of fabulous silver and gold objects on display as well as gorgeous inlaid furniture

The silver swan centerpiece:

Cup in the shape of a partridge made by George Ruhl, 1598-1604:

Holy gates from the Church of the Nativity of St. Mary, Kiev, 1784:

Howdah (chair for riding on an elephant) from India, about 1840:

Another section of the gallery held an astounding collection of snuff boxes.

Frederick the Great's snuffbox of bloodstone, gold, silver, diamonds, rubies, glass and foil about 1775-80:

Lion shaped snuffbox of gold, painted enamel and freshwater seed pearls:

Frederick the Great's snuffbox of chrysoprase, gold, carnelian, with foiled diamonds:

Frederick the Great's snuffbox of mother-of-pearl, varicolored gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphire, spinel, amethyst, turquoise, hardstones, glass and foil:

Those were just four of my favorites, but there must have been close to a hundred on display.

My favorite part of the exhibition though, was the display of miniature mosaics. At first glance, many of these pieces looked like paintings. It was only upon closer examination (and with the help of magnifying glasses which were thoughtfully provided) that you could see the details. The featured piece was a mosaic of a lion. A video display above it zoomed in on some of its details.

This mosaic was no more than two inches in diameter:

Rosaline and Arthur were particularly interested in pieces of historical significance. This mosaic comes from Emperor Hadrian's villa, AD 100-200.

This tabletop was commissioned by Tsar Nicholas I for his daughter, Olga.

Flora of the Two Sicillies by Michelangelo Barberi, about 1850:

Detail:

Tabletop with Birds and Flowers, Camilo Poggioli, 1839:

Detail:

Many of these pieces are on loan from private collectors and other museums. I highly recommend a visit to the V&A while it's there.