THE final room in Liverpool’s newest art gallery is being officially launched today.
The opening of the pillared space, above the Victoria Gallery and Museum’s main entrance, marks the completion of the £8.6m renovation to Liverpool University’s original site.
The Brownlow Hill building is now fully open to the public for the first time in its 117-year history.
The final gallery is dedicated to the decorative arts and includes pieces from the private collection of Sir Charles Sydney Jones, the city’s Lord Mayor in the 1930s and 40s.
Mainly dating back to the 18th century, they include a three-legged teapot, porcelain figurines and a rare set of vases.
Just half of Sydney Jones’s collection is currently on display, with the rest due to be rotated for showing in the gallery at a future date.
Curator Moira Lindsay said: “If it wasn’t for Sydney Jones we wouldn’t have this collection or this gallery.
“He had the idea of bequeathing the pieces to the University after his death so he bore that in mind when choosing them.”
Despite coming from a wealthy background, Sydney Jones did not include family heirlooms in his collection.
Each piece was carefully chosen to represent Britain’s prowess as makers of early 18th century porcelain and also reflected his personal taste.
Some of the items have a Liverpool connection, such as a saucer handpainted with a monochrome landscape that was made by Toxteth-based Herculaneum Pottery around 1810-1825. Many of the pieces in the collection have fallen out of use today. A Bat Pattern Worcester tea service of around 1782 contains several items you would not find in modern homes.
Ms Lindsay said: “It includes all the things you need to make tea but didn’t know you did, like spoon trays and slop bowls.
“Tea was very expensive so these items were a way of showing off. We also have a tortoiseshell tea chest in which the tea was locked away.”
Some of the most delicate items are porcelain cupids used as centrepieces on the dessert table to demonstrate the host’s social standing.
The Victoria Gallery and Museum is housed in the Grade II-listed Victoria Building, designed by Alfred Waterhouse.
It reopened in its current incarnation last year, replacing the University’s much smaller gallery on Abercromby Square.
