Gilbert Collection, London

Background information
This outstanding collection of decorative arts is one of the most important bequests ever made to the British nation. It is the gift of Sir Arthur Gilbert, who was born in London and settled in California in 1949. The magnificent collections of European silver, gold snuff boxes and Italian mosaics are pre-eminent in the world. In the Silver galleries are masterpieces by Paul de Lamerie, Paul Storr, and other leading English and Continental makers. As well as some of the world's finest silver, you can see much rarer works in solid gold, including some of the famed specimens made for Frederick the Great of Prussia. The collection of Italian Mosaics includes Florentine hardstones and Roman micromosaics, many of which are virtuoso works using as many as 1,500 tesserae to the square inch. The Portrait Miniatures collection is one of the few in the world to concentrate on enamels and includes over 100 pieces by leading 18th and 19th century artists.

Over 200,000 people have visited the Gilbert Collection since it was received on behalf of the nation by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother on 25 May 2000. American entrepreneur Sir Arthur Gilbert formed the collection over the past 40 years. Although resident in America, Sir Arthur is English-born and this gift to the British people in 1996 is one of the most important art gifts ever made.

The Gilbert Collection comprises some 800 objects and, in each of the three fields it encompasses, is considered to be among the most distinguished in the world. The collection of mosaics is the most comprehensive ever formed, with Roman and Florentine examples dating from the 16th to the 19th century. Florentine hardstone mosaics or pietre dure were made under the patronage of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany of the 17th and 18th centuries, while Roman micromosaics were made from the 18th century onwards. Many of the micromosaics display extraordinary virtuosity, having as many as 1,500 opaque glass tesserae per square inch. Both forms of mosaic were highly prized as princely gifts and collected by foreign visitors on the Grand Tour.

The gold and silver collection has exceptional breadth, ranging chronologically from the 15th to the 19th centuries and geographically from India to Continental Europe and South America. It is especially strong in masterpieces of the great 18th-century English silversmiths such as Paul de Lamerie. There is an unusual number of gold pieces as well as silver-gilt and silver, many of which are remarkable for their large size and elaborate decoration as well as their distinguished royal and aristocratic provenances.