23 | May | 2015 | Enfilade

Study Day | Close-up and Personal: Eighteenth-Century Gold Boxes

Posted in conferences (to attend) by Editor on May 23, 2015

In conjunction with the exhibition Close-up & Personal, The Fitzwilliam is hosting a study day in June:

Gold Boxes: Manufacture and Marketing from the 18th Century to the Present Day
A Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection Study Day
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 26 June 2015

Lavish and intricate gold boxes of the eighteenth century are amongst the most beautiful objects ever made. These delicate and refined miniatures contained snuff—powdered tobacco. These boxes enjoy a unique status as objects of desire. Speakers including expert auctioneers, conservators, curators, goldsmiths, and scholars will celebrate their exquisite materials and subtle significance. The day is made possible through the generosity of the Gilbert Trust for the Arts, London. £10. Booking is essential: telephone 01223 332904 or email education@fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk.

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P R O G R A M M E

10:30 Registration and coffee

11:00 Welcome and introduction, Heike Zech, Senior Gilbert Curator, Victoria and Albert Museum

11:10 ‘Buying and Selling Gold Boxes’, Vanessa Brett, Independent Scholar, Wiltshire

11:35 ‘Swiss Automata of the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries’, Julia Clarke, Independent scholar and consultant to Sotheby’s, London

12:00 ‘From London to St Petersburg: The Career of the Swiss Craftsman Jean-Pierre Ador’, Roger Smith, Independent scholar, London

12:25 ‘In a Rush: California’s Twentieth-Century Collectors of Gold Boxes’, Rosie Mills, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Associate Curator, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

12:50 Discussion

13.00 Lunch provided

14:00 ‘Attention to Detail: Case Studies’, chaired by Tessa Murdoch, Deputy Keeper, Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics and Glass

14:10 ‘Diamonds and Coloured Gems: What Lies Beneath’, Joanna Whalley, Gemmologist and Senior Metals Conservator Victoria and Albert Museum

14:30 ‘Micromosaics’, Heike Zech, Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Senior Curator, Victoria and Albert Museum

14:50 ‘Enamels’, Sheila McDonald, Enameller and Jeweller, in conversation with Mélodie Doumy, Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Assistant Curator, Victoria and Albert Museum

15:10 ‘Chasing Gold’, Rod Kelly, Contemporary goldsmith, Norfolk

15:30 Discussion

15:45 Tea and coffee

16:00 Study visit to Close-Up and Personal: Eighteenth-Century Gold Boxes from the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection accompanied by the curators

16:45 Fitzwilliam Museum closes