Victoria and Albert Museum

The ‘Armada Jewel’, now kept in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England, was made in England c. 1585-90, and was probably destined to be a gift for Queen Elizabeth I. Its inner lid carries a miniature of the queen by the English miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard, and is set with diamonds. On the outside of the lid is a Tudor rose.

Museum of decorative arts in South Kensington, London, England, founded in 1852. It houses prints, paintings, and temporary exhibitions, as well as one of the largest collections of decorative arts in the world.

Originally called the Museum of Ornamental Art, it had developed from the Museum of Manufacturers at Marlborough House, which was been founded in the aftermath of the Great Exhibition of 1851. In 1857 it became part of the South Kensington Museum, and was renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1899. The original building was designed by English architect Aston Webb. The museum was inspired by Prince Albert and Henry Cole (1808-1882), English industrial designer and writer on decorative arts. He selected the museum's first acquisitions and became its first director. In 1990 the Nehru Indian Gallery was opened, displaying a selection of the museum's Indian collection, which derives from the East India Company's Museum, acquired in 1858. In 2001 the British Galleries, a survey of design in Britain 1500-1900, opened.