A rthur and Rosalinde Gilbert were remarkable partners in every sense, in life and in collecting. Both were born in London to Jewish families that had emigrated from Eastern Europe in the 1890s—Rosalinde’s parents were tailors, while Arthur’s father ran a thriving fur business. The couple met at a ball held at Madame Tussauds and married in December 1934. The following year, they combined their talents to establish Rosalinde Gilbert Ltd, a womenswear label producing ready-to-wear clothing in London. Even during fabric rationing, their designs were elegant, revealing a keen eye for style and quality.
In 1949, they relocated to Los Angeles, selling their fashion business and allowing Arthur to establish himself as a highly successful property developer. The profits from his ventures enabled them, by the late 1960s, to begin collecting in earnest. They lived with their collections, using them in daily life and hosting frequently. Their life-size sterling silver swan by Asprey, for instance, would sit on a table in the drawing room, ready to be filled with flowers and moved to the dining room when entertaining. Objects were chosen to be handled, admired and enjoyed, not placed out of reach.
Arthur and Rosalinde developed a particular interest in pieces that demonstrated extraordinary craftsmanship, expanding their collecting across five principal areas: silverware, gold boxes, enamel portrait miniatures, micromosaics and stone mosaics (pietre dure). The collection’s journey to the Victoria and Albert Museum was a winding one. Items from the collection were first loaned to the Los Angeles Museum of Art in the late 1970s, but in time, Arthur sought more space. In the 1990s, the late Lord Jacob Rothschild was chairman of Somerset House, then an empty shell on the Strand in London, which he was seeking to transform. After Rosalinde’s death in 1995, Arthur donated the bulk of the collection to the British nation the following year. It was first displayed in a suite of galleries at Somerset House from 2000, before finding its long-term home at the V&A, the world’s largest museum of decorative arts and design, in 2008.
Today, the Gilbert Collection’s position at the V&A remains unique. With a dedicated board of trustees and accompanying endowment, it is a living collection, thanks to a crucial clause in the gift requiring continued acquisition. Rather than merely expanding the existing holdings, we select acquisitions that will animate them and build connections. In 2023, for example, we acquired from Replica Shoes ’s a table by Giacomo Raffaelli—the father of micromosaics. The table has a specimen stone top, composed entirely of different stones, a material central to the Gilberts’ taste. These additions help build bridges between the different crafts represented.
The new, expanded galleries, opening to the public on March 14, allow the collection to be experienced more fully than ever before. Visitors can see not only extraordinary craft, but also the care, taste and generosity that shaped it. We have made particular efforts to highlight Rosalinde’s role, showing how she influenced acquisitions alongside Arthur. One story captures their partnership perfectly: Arthur often bought items from the antique dealer S. J. Phillips, founded in 1869. Jonathan Norton, a great-grandson of the founder, told me that he had twice offered Arthur a gold box once owned by Frederick II of Prussia, to no avail. On the third occasion, Rosalinde insisted, “If you don’t buy it, I will.”
