The Benefits
of Membership
Find out more about the benefits of membership including the annual journal, a regular newsletter, lectures, study weekends and overseas tours.
MembershipJoint Symposium with The Silver Society | The Lydia and Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre, Victoria & Albert Museum, London SW7 2RL | 10.00am - 5.10pm
Silver and Furniture: Aesthetics and Value from the Middle Ages to Now
This one-day collaborative symposium will explore the relationship between furniture and silver in terms of valuing, owning, describing and making. Drawing on technical analysis and new archival research, and spanning Europe, North America and India from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, presentations from an international roster of speakers will span a broad range of complementary subjects. Topics will include the use of silver leaf in interiors and on shop signs; the display, storage and transport of toilet services; the representation of silver tea wares in still-life paintings; the integration of silver into upholstered and cabinet furniture; and the use of silver furnishings in elite interiors and collections.
Tickets are now available to buy on Eventbrite.
The conference will be followed by a wine reception.
There will be an opportunity for delegates to join tours of the new Gilbert Galleries at the V&A on Friday, 27 March.
Programme
| 10.00 - 10.30am | Registration |
| 10.30-10.35am | Welcome by Sir Jonathan Marsden, Chairman, Furniture History Society and Dr Kirstin Kennedy, Chairman, The Silver Society |
Session I - Moderated by Dr Kirstin Kennedy | |
| 10.35 - 11.05am | Keynote Deep Storage: Securing German Silver, c. 1630-48 | Dr Allison Stielau (Lecturer in Early Modern Art, University College, London) |
| 11.05 - 11.25am | Looking at Silver in Pieter Gerritsz Roestraeten's (c. 1630-1700) 'Tea Still Lifes' | Evelyn Earl (Wolfson Scholar and PhD candidate in History of Art, University College London) |
| 11.25 - 11.45am | Q & A |
| 11.45 - 11.55am | SHORT BREAK |
Session II - Moderated by Gareth Harris, President, The Silver Society | |
| 11.55am-12.15pm | Eighteenth-Century Panelling: A Material and Contextual Approach to Argentures (Silver Leaf) | Eva Robert Szewczyk (PhD candidate in Art History, École du Louvre and Aix Marseille University) and Stephanie Courtier (Head of Gilded Wood Restoration, Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France) |
| 12.15 - 12.35pm | Silver and the Moon: Kingship, Love and Illusion in the Courtly Interior in South Asia | Dr Esther Schmidt (Founding Director of the Centre for Historic Houses of India and Associate Professor of Architectural History, Global Design History and Heritage Studies at OP Jindal Global University) |
| 12.35 - 12.55pm | The Baroque Silver Furniture Pieces of Prince Paul I Esterházy (1635-1713): Lost and Found Over the Centuries | Dr Florian Bayer (Director, Esterházy Foundation, Austria) |
| 12.55 - 1.10pm | Q & A |
| 1.10 - 2.10pm | LUNCH BREAK (lunch not included) |
| 2.10 - 2.15pm | Welcome back and introduction |
Session III - Moderated by Dr Amy Lim, Co-Chair Events Committee, Furniture History Society | |
| 2.15 - 2.45pm | Keynote Gleaning Gold: The Integral Role of the Gold and Silver Lacemen in Furnishing Decoration | Annabel Westman (Textile historian and consultant) |
| 2.45 - 3.05pm | Craftsmanship and Collaboration at the Court of Dresden: An Overview of the Evidence Embedded in Crown Princess and Queen Maria Josepha's Privy Purse, 1719-57 | Maureen Cassidy-Geiger (Independent Scholar, Curator and Educator) |
| 3.05 - 3.25pm | 'When 'tis unfit for the King's use': Royal Perquisites and their Visibility in the Devonshire Collection | Katherine Hardwick-Kulpa (Assistant Curator of the Devonshire Collections, Chatsworth) |
| 3.25 - 3.40pm | Q & A |
| 3.40 - 4.10pm | Break for Tea |
Session IV - Moderated by Dr Tessa Murdoch FSA, Independent Curatorial and Editorial Consultant and Chair of Trustees, Huguenot Museum | |
| 4.10 - 4.30pm | Silver Dressing Table Sets from the Collection of Marjorie Merriweather Post and their Relationship to Furniture in the Collection of Hillwood, Washington D.C. | Dr Wilfried Zeisler (Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens |
| 4.30 - 4.50pm | German Eighteenth Century 'Toilet Services': Treasures on the Move? | Dr Heike Zech (Deputy Director, Curator of Decorative Arts before 1800 and the History of Crafts at the Germanisches National Museum, Nuremberg) |
| 4.50 - 5.10pm | Q & A and Closing Remarks |
The Montagu Family and an Unknown Attendant (1730-1735) by William Hogarth (1697-1764) oil on canvas. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
The images used on the site are shown by kind permission of the Trustees of the Wallace Collection and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
©2026 Furniture History Society. A registered charity no. 251683.
