Enfilade

From the Call for Papers:

Silver and Furniture: Aesthetics and Value, from the Middle Ages to Now

The Furniture History Society and The Silver Society Joint Symposium

Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 28 March 2026

Proposals due by 31 August 2025

William Hogarth, The Montagu Family and an Unknown Attendant, detail, 1730–35, oil on canvas (New Haven: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection).

We are delighted to announce that the Furniture History Society and the Silver Society will join forces in spring 2026 to hold a one-day symposium on the theme of Silver and Furniture: Aesthetics and Value, from the Middle Ages to Now.

Talks will explore the relationship between furniture and silver in terms of valuing, owning, describing, and making. Furniture displays and stores silver; how did the two combine in princely, ecclesiastical, domestic, and retail settings, and how did viewers react? Do collectors prize silver in its native or worked state, in terms of its place of origin, as they might a rare wood? What prominence do artists give furniture and silver in paintings, and how does furniture frame depictions of metalwork? How do inventories and chronicles describe silver and associated furnishings? Did designers and manufacturers of silver and furniture work collaboratively, or mutually influence each other? Did all societies across the globe value these materials equally, and has their relative importance and material worth fluctuated over the centuries?

We welcome submissions for 20-minute conference papers on these and related topics, from anyone working in the field of decorative and visual arts across continents, in archives, and in conservation. To submit a proposal, please send an abstract of 250–300 words and a brief biography to Dr Amy Lim (Co-chair, Events Committee, Furniture History Society), at events@furniturehistorysociety.org or to Dr Kirstin Kennedy (Chairman, The Silver Society), at chairmankmk@gmail.com.