New silver gallery opens at the V&A

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has opened a new display of its European silver, 1400-1800, marking the end of a three-phase refurbishment of its silver galleries. The project to redisplay the silver began in 1994 and has cost £3.75 million. The A.H. and B.C. Whiteley Charitable Trust provided the bulk of the funds for the last stage and the European silver gallery will be named for the donors. The V&A has 3,500 objects making it the largest public collection of silver in the UK, divided into three main areas: pre-1800 English silver, international silver from 1800 to the present, and the recent gallery of European silver, which is probably the widest ranging in the world.