Collection of Renaissance art in the British Museum
The new 2015 display, with Renaissance metalware, most in silver-gilt, and maiolicaDisplay in 2014, mostly of Renaissance enamel, but including ancient handle mounts and the St Valerie chasse reliquaryAnother display in Room 45, mostly of objects in iron or Limoges enamel
In 1898 Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild bequeathed to the British Museum as the Waddesdon Bequest the contents from his New Smoking Room at Waddesdon Manor. This consisted of a wide-ranging collection of almost 300 objets d'art et de vertu, which included exquisite examples of jewellery, plate, enamel, carvings, glass and maiolica. One of the earlier objects is the outstanding Holy Thorn Reliquary, probably created in the 1390s in Paris for John, Duke of Berry. The collection is in the tradition of a schatzkammer, or treasure house, (and is referred to as such by some writers[1]) such as those formed by the Renaissance princes of Europe;[2] indeed, the majority of the objects are from late Renaissance Europe, although there are several important medieval pieces, and outliers from classical antiquity and medieval Syria.[3]
Following the sequence of the museum's catalogue numbers, and giving the first number for each category, the bequest consists of: "bronzes", handles and a knocker (WB.1); arms, armour and ironwork (WB.5); enamels (WB.19); glass (WB.53); Italian maiolica (WB.60); "cups etc in gold and hard stone" (WB.66); silver plate (WB.87); jewellery (WB.147); cutlery (WB.201); "caskets, etc" (WB.217); carvings in wood and stone (WB.231–265). There is no group for paintings, and WB.174, a portrait miniature on vellum in a wooden frame, is included with the jewellery, though this is because the subject is wearing a pendant in the collection.[4]
The collection was assembled for a particular place, and to reflect a particular aesthetic; other parts of Ferdinand Rothschild's collection contain objects in very different styles, and the Bequest should not be taken to reflect the totality of his taste. Here what most appealed to Ferdinand Rothschild were intricate, superbly executed, highly decorated and rather ostentatious works of the Late Gothic, Renaissance and Mannerist periods. Few of the objects could be said to rely on either simplicity or Baroque sculptural movement for their effect, though several come from periods and places where much Baroque work was being made.[5] A new display for the collection, which under the terms of the bequest must be kept and displayed together, opened on 11 June 2015.
^Contemporary Clay and Museum Culture, p. 187, 2016, Routledge, edited by Christie Brown, Julian Stair, Clare Twomey; "Renaissance jewels – authentic or forgery?", by Phillippa Plock, Waddesdon Manor blog; "The Rothschild family’s extraordinary collection gets permanent display" by Rebecca Cope, The Tatler, July 2019; "Spectacular objects in the Schatzkammer genre that Baron Lionel bought during his lifetime included ..."
^Thornton (2015), 12–20; Thornton (2011), throughout
^Tait, 9–13
^Read, quotations are his section headings; BM collection database, by catalogue numbers
bequeathed to the British Museum as the WaddesdonBequest the contents from his New Smoking Room at Waddesdon Manor. This consisted of a wide-ranging...
Waddesdon Manor is a country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. Owned by the National Trust and managed by the Rothschild...
after his death. This is now exhibited as the WaddesdonBequest. Ferdinand de Rothschild died at Waddesdon Manor on his 59th birthday, thought to be the...
Ferdinand de Rothschild bequeathed the WaddesdonBequest, the glittering contents from his New Smoking Room at Waddesdon Manor. This consisted of almost 300...
Syria and the Jazira. It is now in the British Museum, as part of the WaddesdonBequest (Room 2A (Case 6b).. The goblet is made of clear glass, enamelled...
Rockliffe, London Schwartz, Selma, The Waddesdon Companion Guide, 2005, Waddesdon Manor Tait, Hugh, The WaddesdonBequest, 1981, British Museum Publications...
his son Ferdinand bequeathed in 1898 to the British Museum as the WaddesdonBequest, collecting mostly metalwork, especially of the Northern Renaissance...
engraver Giorgio Ghisi, signed and dated 1554. It is part of the WaddesdonBequest, held by the British Museum in London since 1898. The shield is made...
needed] The WaddesdonBequest, a 19th-century collection of mostly Renaissance treasures now displayed together in the British Museum. The Waddesdon Manor permanent...
the Art Gallery of Ontario, in the British Museum as part of the WaddesdonBequest, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Because of their...
Palmer Cup in Context (in A Rothschild Renaissance: A New Look at the WaddesdonBequest in the British Museum). British Museum Research Publications. p. 130...
on display with the new display of the Rothschild donation of the WaddesdonBequest in Room 2A, with a changing internal lighting source that shows the...
Palmer Cup in Context (in A Rothschild Renaissance: A New Look at the WaddesdonBequest in the British Museum). British Museum Research Publications. p. 130...
Palmer Cup in Context (in A Rothschild Renaissance: A New Look at the WaddesdonBequest in the British Museum). British Museum Research Publications. p. 130...
birds, and other humans, often on horseback. The Palmer Cup in the WaddesdonBequest (British Museum) shows an enthroned ruler flanked by attendants, a...
The WaddesdonBequest of Renaissance objects was bequeathed to the British Museum, where it is displayed in its own room (a condition of the bequest), as...
Biliverti. He is suspected to be involved in several objects in the WaddesdonBequest in the British Museum. Others are still undiscovered in other museums...
website/PDF, 2005, accessed October 26, 2011 Tait, Hugh. Catalogue of the WaddesdonBequest in the British Museum, Volume 1, The Jewels, 1986, British Museum...
Holloway, University of London, 2007 Tait, Hugh. Catalogue of the WaddesdonBequest in the British Museum, 1986, British Museum Press, ISBN 978-0-7141-0525-3...
example, with Ivory. Metropolitan Museum of Art Braimbridge, Mark. "The WaddesdonBequest At The British Museum Part 1". Topiarius, Volume 14, Summer 2010....
Renaissance artwork to the British Museum (now referred to as the WaddesdonBequest). For instance, the helmet of the Emperor Charles V is a prominent...
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