The Waddesdon Bequest

Small objects here can demand a close look. A reliquary holds something treated as sacred, while a jewel or a miniature carved shrine combines precious materials with concentrated handwork. The Holy Thorn Reliquary, Lyte Jewel and boxwood tabernacle are among the works in the Waddesdon Bequest. Ferdinand Rothschild assembled this collection for the New Smoking Room at Waddesdon Manor, his country house. He left nearly 300 objects to the Museum in 1898. Their move brought a private Victorian collection into a public gallery. Medieval and Renaissance pieces share that collecting history with nineteenth-century fakes. Rothschild bought in an art market where age, rarity and skilled workmanship carried high prices, and where modern makers could imitate older treasures. Give the tiny carved and enamelled surfaces time. Their scale suited close attention in a room of guests as much as in a museum.