Bowl, partially gilded silver, enamelled and embossed, Caucasus, 17th century

Shallow circular bowl, parcel-gilt with, around the sides, embossed with birds and beasts and a winged monster, and in the centre, a cast and applied figure of stag with swivelling head, on green enamelled boss, silver ring foot.

Given by Dr W. L. Hildburgh

Acquisition RF: 52/4221
Dr WL Hildburgh FSA Gift (bought from the Wimborne Collection Sale, Christie’s, 8 March 1923)


Walter Leo Hildburgh was one of the most dedicated and generous patrons in the history of the V&A. His name is not well-known outside the museum world, but his influence on the shaping of the collections was immense. Born in New York in 1876, he trained as a scientist. Initially his collecting interest was ethnography, but after 1914 he turned to the decorative arts. His tastes were eclectic, but he developed his closest links with the Departments of Metalwork and Sculpture. Encouraged by successive Keepers of Metalwork, he began to accumulate European silver, with the gaps in the existing collections in mind. He travelled widely on collecting expeditions, usually recording when and where he bought something, but not (frustratingly for posterity) from whom.
Hildburgh's abiding passion was the art of Spain and Portugal, and it is no coincidence that the Museum holds one of the finest collections of Hispanic silver in the world. He also fell into the charming habit of giving the Museum presents at Christmas and on his own birthday. In some ways he was a shadowy figure, living frugally in a flat surrounded by what he called `the Museum mistakes', and devoting all his resources to collecting, but he is known to have been a keen skater. From 1924 when he offered the first objects to the Museum on loan, to 1956 when the huge collection was bequeathed, Hildburgh was part of the Museum landscape. We continue to benefit from his generosity; his will set up a fund for future purchases, administered in the spirit of his earlier acquisitions.

Unmarked

Wine bowls such as this were made throughout the Caucasus, a vast region encompassing present-day Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and part of northern Russia. They are sometimes called hunting bowls, as many feature stags, hares or other hunted animals. Birds and beasts, including an owl, cockerel, rabbit, dog, lion and a winged monster dance around the bowl, while a cast figure of a stag with swivelling head adorns the centre.

M.9-1953