• Date: about 1755
• Material: oak veneered with purplewood and marquetry in tulipwood
• Place Made/Found: Paris, France
• Artist: Jean-François Oeben and Jean-François Leleu

In 1874, while living in the diamond fields of Kimberley, South Africa, Julius Wernher was sent an extraordinary Christmas present by his employer, Jules Porgès: this sumptuous mechanical travelling cabinet. When closed, it looks like a tall chest of five drawers. Yet on operating a crank, a hidden bookcase and shelves for porcelain rise out of the top. The cabinet also includes a removable leather-topped drawer on folding legs, which could be used as a writing desk or bedside table.

The cabinet was made by Jean-François Leleu and his master, Jean-François Oeben, cabinetmaker to the French royal family. Oeben designed several pieces of furniture with mechanisms for the disabled grandson of King Louis XV. With its ingenious mechanism, multipurpose design and outstanding geometric marquetry, this sophisticated cabinet was Wernher’s inspiration for starting his art collection.

• Date: about 1660
• Material: silver gilt, steel and nautilus shell
• Place Made/Found: Augsburg, Germany

The 16th and 17th centuries witnessed an extraordinary expansion of global trade routes. This enabled not only the circulation of materials, skills and knowledge but also the passage of natural objects that Europeans deemed ‘exotic’, including nautilus shells from south-east Asia. In Europe, these shells were prized for their iridescent surfaces, and it became fashionable to encase them in silver-gilt mounts to form drinking cups, like this one made in Germany in the mid-17th century.

The shell is spectacularly engraved with a depiction of Neptune and his seahorse, while the stem is formed as an African warrior who holds up the vessel, the part from which the drinker would sip the liquid contained within it. Fusing exotic raw materials and virtuoso metalwork, objects like this took pride of place in the princely wunderkammers (‘cabinets of curiosities’) of Germanic princes as a statement of their wealth and worldliness.

• Date: about 1690–1708
• Material: Linen, wool and silk tapestry
• Place Made/Found: Paris, France
• Artist: Les Frères Filleul or de Merou, after designs by Guy-Louis Vernansal, Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer and Jean-Baptiste Belin Fontonay, Beauvais manufactory

This is one of six tapestries (of which three are in the Wernher Collection) depicting the the life of the Chinese Emperor Kangxi, who reigned from 1661 to 1722. Representations of Asian-inspired scenes were hugely popular in 17th- and 18th-century Europe owing to the intense interest in Eastern cultures. The Beauvais manufactory in Paris capitalised on this with its brightly coloured portrayals of ‘exotic’ scenes, which attracted an eager clientele. This set was woven for the Comte de Toulouse, Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, to furnish his château of Rambouillet just outside Paris. Tapestry sets have tended to become completely separated over time, so it is remarkable that three from this set have remained together.

The first in the set shows the Audience of the Emperor. Enthroned at the centre of an elaborate structure, Kangxi receives visitors to his court. Some bow in his presence, while one man throws up his arms in praise. At the bottom left the empress enters on a servant-drawn sedan. Foliage, fruit and animals – an elephant among them – complement the rich colours of the drapery and ornate architecture, infusing the scene with European perceptions of the ‘exotic’.

• Date: 18th century with 19th-century additions
• Material: kingwood, marble, ceramic, porcelain, gilt metal
• Place Made/Found: France
• Artist: Martin Carlin

This table, light enough to be moved around a room, exemplifies the 18th-century French trend for inlaying fine furniture with Sèvres porcelain plaques to increase an object’s overall value.

The maker of this piece, Martin Carlin, specialised in this kind of Sèvres-mounted furniture from the late 1750s and popularised the style. The wood onto which the porcelain is inlaid is kingwood, one of the most expensive woods for furniture making in the 18th century. It was therefore important that a skilled ébéniste (cabinetmaker) like Carlin knew how to work its dense and hard properties to produce a spectacular finish.

The heavy brown-red marble top may be a 19th-century addition.

• Date: about 1500
• Material: bronze
• Place Made/Found: Bologna, Italy

A nude Hercules is shown here in a drunken sleep. The container for the wine he has consumed forms his pillow, while his right hand clasps a vine branch.

This is one of the most exceptional and rare bronzes in the Wernher Collection due to its association with its original owner, Gaspere Fantuzzi, a classical scholar who came from one of the leading noble families of early Renaissance Bologna. Fantuzzi probably commissioned this piece with the ancient Greek statuette of Herakles Epitrapezios as the model, which would have originally been placed on a table at drinking sessions. By contrast, Fantuzzi probably intended his Sleeping Hercules for the more private space of his studiolo (study) to be displayed there as a beautiful curio.

• Date: about 1520–30
• Material: bronze
• Place Made/Found: south Germany

This large figure of St Sebastian bound to a tree is probably the most important bronze in the Wernher Collection. Condemned to death for his Christian beliefs, St Sebastian was shot with arrows but survived the attack. In the visual arts, he is usually depicted with arrows violently piercing his skin. Here, however, the sculptor chose to show the saint’s body completely unblemished, a representation that is not known in any other example. Instead, his agony is implied through the contortion of his body and the angularity of his arms, which is mirrored in the sharply defined branches of the tree.

St Sebastian’s popularity in the late medieval period was fuelled by the belief that he provided protection from the plague.

• Date: 1565–75
• Material: lead-glazed ceramic
• Place Made/Found: France
• Artist: Bernard Palissy

Bernard Palissy was a prominent ceramicist of the French Renaissance, whose technical innovations reflected his fascination with the natural world. This dish is one of his rustique figulines, a decorative style achieved by casting shapes of plants and animals in moulds taken from real-life examples. Goldsmiths already practised this method, but he pioneered its application into ceramics.

• Date: 1760
• Material: porcelain
• Place Made/Found: Paris, France
• Artist: Jean-Baptiste Tandart the Elder, Sèvres porcelain manufactory

In the 18th century, large jugs like this were used with matching basins for the toilette, the lengthy and ceremonial ritual of washing and dressing that took place in the bedroom or boudoir and was undertaken by women at the higher levels of French society. This fine Sèvres jug and basin would have formed part of a large set of toilette porcelain wares, including foot-washing bowls, soap boxes and chamber pots. These would be placed on a dressing table called a toile, from which the word toilette derived.

• Date: about 1768
• Material: soft-paste porcelain
• Place Made/Found: Paris, France
• Artist: Sèvres porcelain manufactory

This is one of the most unusual vases in the Wernher Collection. Its chunky, sculptural form makes it quite unlike anything else made in porcelain during the 18th century. Only one other example of this model is known today (in the Wallace Collection, London) and features a similar blue-white and gilded decoration.

Sèvres was the leading porcelain manufactory in Europe by the mid-18th century. The only feature that identifies the piece as having been made there is the rich blue ground colour known as bleu du roi, which was introduced at the factory in 1763. The vase is decorated with pilasters, consoles and painted cameo-like medallions en grisaille (in tones of grey).

Altogether, these elements make a striking contrast with earlier Sèvres pieces in the Wernher Collection, which are largely characterised by softer pastel colours and pastoral or floral decoration. This shift in style illustrates the growing antique influence at Sèvres from the mid-1760s, which began to embrace the art and forms of classical Greece and Rome.

• Date: 1530
• Material: maiolica (tin-glazed earthenware)
• Place Made/Found: Casteldurante, Italy

The woman painted on this colourful and highly decorated dish is identified only as ‘Beautiful Portia’. The bella donna (‘beautiful woman’) style emerged in early 16th-century Urbino and Casteldurante, renowned centres of maiolica production. Pieces in this style typically featured flattering female portraits, often in profile, with an inscribed scroll.

• Date: 1526
• Material: lustred maiolica
• Place Made/Found: Gubbio, Italy
• Artist: workshop of Giorgio Andreoli

Maiolica pottery was developed in Italy in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Tin oxide was used to produce a smooth white-glazed finish, which was ideal for vibrant decoration. The process originated in Asia and was brought to Italy via Majorca, from where it derived its name.

Personalised and armorial decorations were common ways of demonstrating wealth and status. The coat of arms on this plate has not been identified but may be that of Renio of Venice.

• Date: about 1500
• Material: ivory
• Place Made/Found: Flanders, modern-day Belgium

Fear of dying while outside God’s protection led to an unprecedented boom in the production of memento mori, objects that acted as reminders of death and the need to remain virtuous in order to be judged favourably by God. They emphasised the temporary nature of life on earth and cautioned the beholder against the pointless pursuit of wealth and physical beauty.

This is exemplified in this pendant, which would have dangled from a chain or rosary. On this side is a well-dressed young woman in the prime of her life, her hands clasped in front of her and a small dog in the crook of her arm. The Latin inscription around her veiled head warns of her, and our, eventual fate, translating to ‘Alas I must die’. On turning the pendant round, we see the full horror of her fate: a rotting skeleton, infested with frogs, slugs, worms and salamanders, accompanied by the Latin statement which translates as ‘Here is the end’.

• Date: 1575–1600
• Material: boxwood
• Place Made/Found: Germany

This astonishing coffin-shaped object is small enough to be held in the hand. It opens up to reveal three detachable panels, each carved with scenes of the Last Judgement and a decomposing human body. Once all the panels are removed, a skeleton is revealed. Together with the Last Judgement scenes in which earthly souls are judged by God, this tiny sculpture acts as a memento mori – a reminder of life’s transience. It prompted the beholder to remain devout to God through regular worship.

To construct such a multi-layered work, the outer dimensions would first have been cut back to allow the placement of the internal panels, themselves carved from multiple pieces of boxwood. This arrangement gave the maker unhindered access to each layer, helping him to achieve a high level of detail on a minute scale. The hardness and fine grain of boxwood were ideally suited to this kind of intricate carving.

• Date: 2nd century BC
• Material: gold
• Place Made/Found: Greece

Dating to the Hellenistic period (2nd century BC), this remarkable gold earring is the oldest object in the Wernher Collection. It depicts a nude Nike, the ancient Greek goddess of victory, whose wings are characteristically unfurled as she is depicted descending to earth from flight. 

Hellenistic earrings of this type comprised a pendant figure dangling from a rosette disc on a U-shaped hook. The disc and hook once attached to this earring have been lost. Nike earrings were most popular from the late 4th to early 3rd century BC, making these a little more ‘modern’ than other examples of Hellenistic era Nike earrings.

• Date: about 1325
• Material: ivory and silver
• Place Made/Found: Paris, France

Early medieval ivory sculptures were primarily produced for religious purposes. By contrast, this lavish casket displays the secular themes that became ever more popular with a wealthy European clientele. It is decorated with allegorical scenes. On the right-hand side, a woman is shown playing an organ which rests on a lion, symbolising the soothing power of music and love.

• Date: about 1487
• Material: oil on panel
• Place Made/Found: Florence, Italy
• Artist: studio of Sandro Botticelli

Bought by Julius Wernher in 1897, Madonna of the Pomegranate (Madonna della Melagrana) (c.1487) is the closest version of the famous masterpiece by the Florentine master Sandro Botticelli, now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

The title of the painting, which shows a melancholy Madonna holding the Christ Child and flanked by four angels, refers to the pomegranate that is held by the Madonna and Child to symbolise Christ’s future suffering.

The painting at Ranger’s was long thought to be a later imitation, an assumption that arose because of its variations in detail from the original and the thick yellow varnish that concealed the quality of the work. However, X-ray testing, infrared studies and pigment analysis have revealed that the painting is from the very workshop in Florence where Botticelli created his masterpieces.

It is difficult to know just how much involvement Botticelli himself would have had in the painting. The artist, who died in 1510, employed a large number of assistants who would help with commissioned works.

• Date: about 1480
• Material: wood and enamel on copper
• Place Made/Found: Limoges, France
• Artist: Monvaerni

This enamel plaque shows Judas kissing Christ, betraying him before the Roman soldiers who were searching for him. It was made by Monvaerni, an otherwise anonymous master who created more than 50 religious Limoges enamel plaques. As an ecclesiastical centre featuring on pilgrimage routes, Limoges attracted many artists who were dependent on commissions from the Church.

• Date: about 1490
• Material: oil on panel
• Place Made/Found: Florence, Italy
• Artist: Filippino Lippi

This tondo (circular painting) by the Florentine artist Filippino Lippi shows the Holy Family resting en route to Egypt, where they were headed to escape the decree of Herod, King of the Judea, to kill the infant Jesus. Mary is shown in the foreground adoring her child before a beautifully depicted landscape. This includes details such as a tree growing out of the rocky hillside, a varied group of grazing sheep and goats, and a piper who sits at the top of the hill next to his sleeping greyhound. The haloed figure in brown is Mary’s husband, Joseph, who is shown with a cow and the donkey on which the Holy Family travelled. Its harness appears in the left foreground propping up the Christ Child.

The naturalistic details reveal the influence of Flemish painting, examples of which could be seen in late 15th-century Florence. However, the linear manner of the figures bears the hallmarks of Lippi’s master, Botticelli.

• Date: about 1490
• Material: oil on panel
• Place Made/Found: Bruges, Belgium
• Artist: Hans Memling

Despite establishing an artistic career in Bruges, Hans Memling received numerous commissions from Italian patrons. Demand for private devotional paintings was particularly high, and he produced several versions of the Virgin and Child. This intimate portrayal resembles that of a triptych painted for Sir John Donne in 1475, now in the National Gallery, London.

• Date: about 1667
• Material: oil on panel
• Place Made/Found: Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Artist: Gabriel Metsu

This painting by Metsu shows a well-dressed woman seated at a piano. The woman is distracted by a man who offers her a glass of wine, while her lapdog, who represents loyalty, sniffs cautiously at his boots. Both the woman and her dog seem uncertain about the man’s intentions: will she or won’t she give in to his advances? Metsu was adept at telling visual stories that were left open-ended, drawing the viewer into the dramatic moments represented. He was also skilled at harmonising colours, injecting a largely muted palette with pops of bright red or orange pigment, which further animate the scene.

By 1900, when Wernher bought this work, Metsu was regarded as one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age.

• Date: about 1774
• Material: oil on canvas
• Artist: Sir Joshua Reynolds

Emily Coote was the wife of Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Bellamont, an Irish peer who was the Postmaster-General of Ireland. He commissioned this full-length portrait from Sir Joshua Reynolds, then the most sought after of London’s portraitists. A payment of 150 guineas (the equivalent of about £9,000 today) is recorded in a 1778 ledger belonging to Reynolds.

• Date: 1787
• Material: oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: London
• Artist: Sir Joshua Reynolds

Caroline Price (née Carpenter) married the landowner and landscape theorist Uvedale Price in 1774. This portrait of her is remarkable for its intensity of colour. Reynolds tended to mix carmine red in with his white paint which faded drastically over time, leaving his subjects with strikingly pale features. Yet here Reynolds used vermilion, a brilliant red that resists such fading.

Reynolds established a successful practice in London after training in Rome. He was a founding member of the Royal Academy, becoming its first president in 1768.