Gilbert Collection, Decorative art collection at Victoria and Albert Museum, United Kingdom
The Gilbert Collection is a group of European and British decorative arts displayed in four rooms at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It holds pieces made from gold, silver, painted enamels, and detailed mosaics created by skilled artists over many centuries.
Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde gathered these pieces over forty years before giving the entire collection to Britain in 1996. The four rooms at the Victoria and Albert Museum have housed the collection since it relocated there in 2009.
The collection shows European craftsmanship through carefully made objects from different time periods that you can see in the dedicated rooms. Visitors notice how much skill went into each piece and how artisans created beauty from precious materials.
The collection sits in four separate rooms within the Victoria and Albert Museum and is straightforward to locate. It pays to spend time in each room since the pieces contain small details worth viewing up close.
Some objects in this collection are working artworks with moving parts and inner mechanisms that can produce music. These technically elaborate pieces show how artists once combined craftsmanship with mechanical innovation.
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