Goppion display cases for the Rothschild collection at the British Museum

A new gallery opened on 11 June dedicated to the Waddesdon Bequest, a superb collection of medieval and Renaissance pieces donated to the British Museum in 1898 by Baron Ferdinand Rothschild MP.

The collection was created in the 19th Century with pieces from the the art markets of Frankfurt, Vienna, London and Paris, and is a true treasure trove of precious, intricate objects modeled on the courtly European collections – called Kunstkammern – from the Medieval and Renaissance era. It testifies to the rise of the Rothschild family as new European aristocracy. Financed by the Rothschild Foundation, the new gallery will not only allow for one of the museum’s most prestigious collections to be highlighted but will also reconstruct the history of collecting in the 19th Century.

The Stanton Williams studio designed the new gallery by looking to the Kunstkammern with the objective being to inspire a sense of surprise and wonder in the visitor. This while reinterpreting the collection in a modern way and revitalizing one of the most important historic spaces of the British Museum – the reading room featuring Robert Smirke’s neo-classical design. The new gallery puts the collection into historic context and emphasizes the ties with its original home, which was the Smoking Room at Waddesdon Manor, the country home of the Rothschild family. The feeling of intimacy and the precious quality of materials used in the gallery are also reminiscent of the Smoking Room.

The gallery’s installation includes 10 built-in display cases and 8 bifacial island models, three of which are notable in size - as large as was allowed for the room where they are located. To make the most of the space available and to allow curators the greatest access to the display cases without getting in one another’s way, Goppion developed a motorized opening system for the island models which reduces the space the door takes up as it opens. An interestingly shaped arm, defined as a “coach-hinge” because it brings to mind the arm used to open bus doors, pulls the door out to a parallel position with the long side of the case and then rotates it 45 degrees to be parallel with the short side.

The display cases’ load-bearing structure is entirely in glass, including the divider wall, which is where the metallic panel that supports the shelves is located. The advantage is a visual lightness and the ability to see the gallery in its entirety.

A shock absorption system protects the display case and its contents from shocks caused accidentally by the public or due to other sources.

All of the display cases have active climate-control systems.

Goppion supplied and installed the elements in the lighting system, which was designed by the London studio LAPD. It includes LED lighting in the ceiling of the cases both inside and outside the display case. This allows for the objects on display to be illuminated (without blinding the visitor) and for the environment to be illuminated as well. This is a highly flexible system that allows for changes to be made in the future in terms of how the objects are organized and displayed.

This was a complex, painstaking installation inside the gallery with many small objects, each of which required its very own support system designed especially for it.