All that glisters: selections from the Victoria and Albert Museum's base metal collections

Apollo, March, 2004 by Angus Patterson

The British Antique Dealer's Association Fair is this year playing host to All that Glisters, an exhibition of treasures from the Victoria and Albert Museum's world-renowned collections of base metalwork. The display covers three broad themes: highlights from the collections, lighting and contemporary work. It is the first time for several years that many of these pieces have been on show. Their display gives a glimpse of the richness and complexity of the V&A's collection.

Work is underway at the V&A on a new gallery of brass, pewter and cutlery. Opening in late 2004, the gallery will show around 200 pieces dating from 1400 to the present day. From rare archaeological finds of medieval dining pewter to highly reflective, semi abstract contemporary pieces, from grand historic lighting equipment to a collection of 18th-century brass tobacco boxes, the gallery will trace a history of style and manufacturing techniques through a mixture of long-term and temporary displays.

The closure in 2002 of the V&A's old Base Metals Galleries so that they could be returned to their original role as picture galleries and the retirement of curator, Anthony North, after thirty-seven years' service to the Museum prompted much concern for the future of the Museum's collections of non-precious metals. Design tutors feared the apparent demise of a valuable teaching aid. Collectors protested the disappearance of a standard reference tool, and the loss of expertise in its curator. Removal of the gallery however has not meant loss of collections. Research into the collections is ongoing, the planning of the new gallery gathers pace and the collection continues to grow: the Museum has recently acquired a set of gilt brass door furniture designed by Robert Adam dating from the early 1770s.

All that Glisters gives a timely public airing to some of the pieces destined for the new gallery. Some are outstanding examples of design while others are shown purely for their historical interest. Some are emblematic of the formation and shaping of the V&A collection while others parade the quality and ingenuity of their manufacture. The BADA Fair offers a welcome opportunity to show that the base metals collection is alive and well.

The V&A has collected non-precious metals from its inception in 1852. Following the recommendations of the Select Committee appointed by Parliament in 1835 to investigate the perceived decline in British design, the newly established museum aimed, in its earliest days, to collect 'modern manufactures' for the education of manufacturers, designers and the public. One of the earliest purchases was this magnificent 6-light, Gothic Revival brass candelabrum (Fig. 1) bought for 7 [pounds sterling] from the Great Exhibition in 1851 and catalogued as 'English, modern'. The candelabrum was part of a series designed by AWN Pugin for the Houses of Parliament in 1846. These objects were, according to the catalogue of purchases by the Museum from the exhibition, "Remarkable ... in the style of antient brass work, of a flowing character of ornament, well suited to the purpose, and the material in which they are made." (1)

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

The Gothic Revival, championed by Pugin, grew on the back of the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament after the devastating the of 1834. By the 1850s it had more or less become the national style. 'Appropriateness' was an ever-present ideal for design reformers and, for Pugin, Gothic was the only suitable style for a Christian nation. The style could be applied seriously to both religious and secular buildings and this candelabrum and a larger 5-light example from the same series also in the V&A (Mus. No. 2742-1851) are among the best secular examples.

The candelabrum was made by Pugin's preferred manufacturer, the Birmingham firm of John Hardman and Co. As early as 1838 the company described itself as 'Medieval Metalworker' and the Medieval Court at the Great Exhibition, designed by Pugin, displayed much of their work. The Jury Report at the exhibition was "particularly impressed with the very perfect manner in which Messrs. Hardman have developed the artist's conceptions". (2)

The appointment of John Charles Robinson to the Museum staff in 1853 heralded a change in focus of the Museum collections and a move away from 'modern manufactures'. Robinson was a prolific collector and trail-blazing first Curator of the Museum. He persuaded the Museum's first director, Henry Cole, that historic works of art were as instructive as contemporary work. Robinson trawled the art markets of France, Spain and Italy and, under his guidance, some of the earliest purchases by the Museum included outstanding examples of European pewter, brass and bronze. Cole himself readily admitted that with the purchase of French and Italian Renaissance decorative arts objects from the collection of Jules Soulages of between 1859 and 1865, "the nation acquired possession of a collection of medieval art of the greatest value to manufacturers". (3) In his fifteen years at the Museum Robinson, along with his colleague Augustus Franks at the British Museum, created the first public collections of Medieval and Renaissance decorative art in Britain. (4)