Silver, porcelain and ruby glass seem unlikely bedfellows, yet the objects in the Zilkha Collection are all united by the medium of silver or luxury metalwork. The objects were also made, for the most part, over about a century and a half. All of them tell a fascinating story of the particular circumstances that produced them: a maker, a workshop, a patron. They also tell the wider story of the society that made them necessary or desirable; the science that made them possible; and of their survival down the centuries. Therefore their appeal is more than just aesthetic, and their design and...

Bringing the existence and significance of the lost riches of Henry VIII back to life, this book sheds new light on Henrician and Tudor court culture.