OXFORD.- Michael Wellby bequeathed his extraordinary collection of Renaissance silver and exotica to the Ashmolean in 2012. Comprising over 500 pieces, it consists primarily of spectacular goldsmiths’ work made in Continental Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The collection was inspired by the spectacular accumulations of virtuoso craftsmanship in precious and exotic materials assembled by princes on the Continent. Some of these materials, such as coconut shell and agate, were believed to have magical properties, including protecting against poison.

Many of these objects could be used at table: the silver-gilt animals, for instance, have heads that can be removed and used as cups. However, the prime purpose of commissioning such fantastical objects was for display on a buffet, for the admiration and amusement of guests at a banquet.

Michael Wellby’s collecting echoed such great royal accumulations as the Imperial Habsburg “Kunstkammer” (Art Cabinet) in Vienna or the one assembled by the Electors of Saxony, which is shown in the “Green Vault” in Dresden. This taste had been revived in the nineteenth century by wealthy private individuals such as the Rothschilds.

His vision was of a “Little Green Vault in Oxford” and the eighteenth-century display in Dresden has been the inspiration for the present gallery.

The Wellby Gallery has been made possible by generous grants from the DCMS Wolfson Fund, Arts Council England’s Designation Development Fund, the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, the Silver Society, and the Schroder Charity Trust.