Serious art collectors don't think in units, they think in relationships and comparisons. You can see this in the new Medieval and Renaissance Treasures from the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) exhibition at Toronto's Art Gallery of Ontario, in what AGO director Matthew Teitelbaum calls "a Ken Thomson moment" - the meeting in one glass case of two 12th-century treasures the late collector once dreamed of exhibiting in tandem.
The Malmesbury Chasse, adorned with blue enamel, gilded copper and cabochon rock crystals, has been displayed at the AGO since Thomson lent it in 1997. Now it sits beside a slightly larger box created at the same time and place, which Thomson had bought the previous year but was not allowed to export from England.
The Thomson family had coveted the Becket Reliquary for years. Ken Thomson outbid the V&A for it at auction in London in 1996, but was told it had to stay in England. So he sold it to his competitor for what he paid: $6.5-million (U.S.). At the time, Thomson said what he really regretted was being unable to display it with his Malmesbury piece.
The two objects are a fascinating juxtaposition. The Chasse, which once held the bones of a Scottish missionary of the Dark Ages, depicts the Holy hierarchy; its formal, static design invites contemplation. By contrast, the reliquary invites pity and horror. It shows Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, saying Mass, and reeling before the sword of a knight sent by King Henry II of England to kill him. The two sacred boxes are on exhibit with 34 other V&A masterpieces. Dazzling as the other objects are, no other works offer a more dramatic contrast than this pair - just as Ken Thomson suspected.
Medieval and Renaissance
Treasures from the Victoria and
Albert Museum opens at the AGO
on Saturday and runs until Oct. 7 (416-979-6648 or http://www.ago.net).