Rectangular silver-gilt jewel casket; Philip Rollos, England, ca.1695

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 Egerton crest under an earl’s coronet for the 7th Earl of Bridgewater (1753-1823)

The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Provenance: Commissioned or acquired by an unknown woman circa 1695; purchased in the early 19th century by John Egerton, 7th Earl of Bridgewater (1753-1823); his great-great nephew John Cust, 2nd Earl Brownlow (1842-67); his brother Adelbert Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow (1844-1921); his second cousin Adelbert Cust, 5th Baron Brownlow (1867-1927); his son Peregrine Cust, 6th Baron Brownlow (1899-1978) by whom it was sold [it must have been sold privately as it is not included in either of the two Christie’s sales – 1921 and 1963]; Toledo Museum of Art; S. J. Phillips Ltd, London; purchased from them by Arthur Gilbert in 1982.
The toilet service actually has the Egerton crest under an earl’s coronet for the 7th Earl of Bridgewater (1753-1823), rather than the Brownlow crest as initially identified. The confusion has set in because the Earls Brownlow, as heirs of the Earl of Bridgewater, adopted the Egerton crest alongside that of the Brownlows. Lord Bridgewater, who did not inherit his predecessor’s collection, bought a lot of historic plate after succeeding to the Ashridge estate in 1803, including this toilet service. It must originally have been commissioned by an unmarried woman or a widow as each piece is engraved with a lozenge (women were not allowed to express their arms on a shield as that was martial in spirit – and a married woman could not express her armorials independently of her husband). The armorials within the lozenge have been intentionally obliterated by later decoration, almost certainly because they bore no connection to Lord Bridgewater.

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.

LOAN:GILBERT.626-2008