Enfilade

Now on view at the Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery:

Silver City: 500 Years of Portsmouth’s History
Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery, 28 May 2022 — 26 February 2023

Curated by James Daly and Susan Ward

Portsmouth Flagons, made in 1683 by Wolfgang Howzer and presented to Portsmouth by Louise de Kéroualle, the Duchess of Portsmouth. She was one of Charles II’s mistresses and presented the Flagons to Portsmouth when she was made duchess, although there is no record of her having visited the town.

Silver City: 500 Years of Portsmouth’s History is a major exhibition at Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery, telling the story of the city through amazing silver treasures. It showcases many precious objects that have never been on public display before. Most come from the city’s civic collection, but others have been loaned from the Royal Navy, the city’s Anglican cathedral, and the Goldsmiths’ Company Charity. Objects include a model of HMS Victory presented to the city when the Portsmouth Command of the Royal Navy was awarded the Freedom of the City in 1965. It is made from copper taken from the ship and plated in silver.

James Daly and Susan Ward, Silver City: 500 Years of Portsmouth’s History (Portsmouth: Tricorn Books, 2022), 161 pages, ISBN: 978-914615276, £27.

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Frances Parton’s review of the exhibition appeared in October issue of The Burlington Magazine, pp. 1015–17.