Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Apsley House

The home of the Duke of Wellington. From Early Modern England:
On the ground level, the first room I entered was a room full of swords and spectacular dinnerware. There were pieces with depictions of Waterloo and Wellington in battle, alongside scenes from his life and a few plates with pictures of Apsley house . These gifts came from many places: Prussia, Berlin and Austria and Portugal. Silver dining sets and beautiful porcelain plates adorned the walls. There was also a display case that held the sword Wellington wore at Waterloo. The most interesting set in this room (for me) was the Egyptian “divorce gift” Josephine had requested from Napoleon. It was a beautiful Egyptian dinnerware set that she refused after commissioning it because she felt it was ‘too severe’. King Louis XVIII of France ended up giving the Egyptian dinnerware to the Duke of Wellington as a gift along with a lovely note with a few kind words in English about the virtues of friendship. This was my favorite set in the collection. (Read more.)
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