Casket
- Place of origin:
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
Rollos, Philip (the Elder), born 1655 (possibly, maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Raised, cast, applied and engraved silver-gilt with velvet
- Credit Line:
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
- Image in copyright
This object is part of a toilet service engraved with the crest of the Earls Brownlow, Lincolnshire. The toilet service represented the height of aristocratic fashion. Women used the many pots and containers for cosmetics and ointments. The whisk was used to powder wigs. The extravagance and size of many toilet sets demonstrate the public aspect of courtly life. As private rooms were also used to receive guests, the toilet service was displayed to impress visitors. Anne of Austria (1601-66), married to Louis XIII of France, kept a 17-piece gold service in her rooms at the Louvre palace.
Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world's great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.
Physical description
Rectangular silver-gilt jewel casket with straight sides and a pincushion in the centre of the cover, a gadrooned border at the base and a reeded rim. The hinged cover is stepped and flat topped with a similar gadrooned border and an applied moulded band. The casket is engraved with the crest and coronet of the Earls Brownlow.
Place of Origin
London, England (made)
Date
ca.1695 (made)
Artist/maker
Rollos, Philip (the Elder), born 1655 (possibly, maker)
Materials and Techniques
Raised, cast, applied and engraved silver-gilt with velvet
Marks and inscriptions
Engraved with the crest and coronet of the Earls Brownlow
Dimensions
Height: 7.6 cm, Width: 17 cm, Depth: 11.4 cm, Weight: 900 g
Object history note
Provenance: John Egerton, 3rd earl of Bridgewater. Viscount Alford. The earls Brownlow. By descent to the barons Brownlow. Toledo Museum of Art. Purchased from S.J. Phillips Ltd., London, 1982.
Descriptive line
Rectangular silver-gilt jewel casket; Philip Rollos, England, ca.1695
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Schroder, Timothy. The Gilbert collection of gold and silver. Los Angeles (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) 1988, cat. no. 34, pp. 141-47. ISBN.0875871445
Exhibition History
Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of the Historic Plate of the City of London (C) (25 Park Lane, London 01/01/1929-31/12/1929)
Old Silverwork, Chiefly English, from the XVth to the XVIIIth Centuries (Court of St. James 01/01/1902-31/12/1902)
Materials
Silver-gilt; Velvet
Techniques
Gilding; Engraving (incising); Casting; Raising; Applied work; Padding (process)
Subjects depicted
Crests; Coronets (crowns)
Categories
Containers; Metalwork
Collection code
MET
