Upcoming Society Events & Talks
More details about all these events and talks are in the Members’ area
January
Lecture by Anthony Bernbaum (The Peartree Collection) on ‘A brief history of the belt buckle, 1870-1939’
Lecture by Oliver Newton (Oliver Newton Art) on ‘The Gilded Magnificence of Benjamin Smith’
February
Bath: Schroder Gallery, Holburne Museum. Catarina Badan (the Schroder Collection Curator) and Tim Schroder will host the visit. The display of over 100 pieces of silver includes some of the greatest masterpieces of the silversmith’s art and is one of the finest private collections of silverware in the country.
March
March 28 On Saturday March 28 th we join forces with the Furniture History Society for a one-day conference on ‘Silver and Furniture: Aesthetics and Value from the Middle Ages to Now’. Speakers include Society Members Maureen Cassidy-Geiger (on the Dresden Court) and Heike Zech (on German eighteenth century toilet services); President Gareth Harris and Tessa Murdoch are among the session moderators. Keynote lectures will be delivered by Allison Stielau, Lecturer in Early Modern Art at University College London (on the timely topic of keeping silver safe in seventeenth- century Germany) and by textile historian Annabel Westman (on gold and silver lacemen and their role in furnishing decoration). We are also delighted to announce that, thanks to the generosity of Senior Curator Alice Minter, up to 40 conference attendees can join a curator-led tour of the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Galleries on Friday 27 th .
The conference is open to members and non-members of the Society alike.
For the full programme and how to book, click here:
London: Joint Silver Society & Furniture History Society Symposium at the V&A: ‘Silver & Furniture: Aesthetics and Value from the Middle Ages to Now.’
This will hopefully be preceded by a visit to the newly re-opened Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Gallery at the V&A.
Leeds: Silver Treasures of Leeds
Organised by Andrew Paterson, the trip begins on Sunday evening with a visit to a private collection to enjoy silver and supper. Monday will be spent at Temple Newsam in the company of Curator Adam Toole, and includes a special visit to the recently refurbished Butler’s Pantry and a handling session. On Tuesday we travel to Lotherton Hall and Leeds University, plus an optional visit to Leeds City Museum to see the Oxley Collection.
April
London: (Joint Meeting with the Society of Jewellery Historians):
Kieran McCarthy, FSA (joint-managing director of Wartski and curator of the sell-out V&A exhibition Fabergé in London: Romance to Revolution) – Fabergé’s Silver
Cambridge: Treasures of Christ’s College, Cambridge
Organised by Jane Ewart. Booking details to follow in due course.
May
London: Lecture by Damian Collins (Guest curator of last year’s exhibition on gold boxes at Dublin Castle, ‘‘The Metal Stamp’d by honest Fame’’), on Irish gold boxes
Silversmithing workshop at West Dean College
June
Edinburgh & Glasgow Study Tour.
Visiting a wonderful array of places and silver, guided by our local expert members, Colin Fraser and Lyndsay McGill.
July
London: Lecture by Piers Percival (independent scholar, former ophthalmic surgeon and long-term Society member), on ‘Some Tudor Device Marks Revealed: an evening of light and colour.’
October
London: Lecture by Roland Arkell (deputy editor, features and supplements, Antiques Trade Gazette), reviews the ups and downs of the silver market in the last 30 years.
Arundel Castle, Sussex. Visit led by Gareth Harris
November
London AGM lecture. Vanessa Brett (former editor of Silver Studies, and most recently author of the delightfully titled Knick-knackery: The Deards family & their luxury shops, 1685-1785 [2023]) will be talking about the research behind her forthcoming book on the late Timothy Arthur Kent and his collection, People, Places, Occupations.