The Millenium Collection for Bute House Scotland

July 24 - October 4, 2009

Guest Curators:
Hal Nelson
Bernard Jazzar

Exhibition Design:
Ted Cohen

This exhibition was generously supported by the Windgate Charitable Foundation; San Francisco Grants for the Arts/Hotel Tax Fund; David and Sylvia Weisz Foundation; Bernard Osher Foundation; Wells Fargo Foundation; Burr, Pilger, and Mayer Foundation; Comerica Charitable Foundation; Michael Osborne Design

The Millennium Collection for Bute House was created to celebrate the Millennium and to coincide with the return of a Scottish Parliament after almost 300 years. Fifteen artist-silversmiths were invited to contribute to the Collection, which is on permanent loan to the First Minister of Scotland and put to use for state occasions at Bute House, his official residence in Edinburgh. Frequently employed and regularly exhibited, the Collection is both functional and beautiful, exhibiting a breadth of design and craft skill that is a herald to the very best of Scotland’s contemporary art and artisans. Every piece in the collection also carries the special commemorative Millennium hallmark that could only be struck during 1999 and 2000. The Collection was the initiative of The Incorporation of Goldsmiths of the City of Edinburgh and is now owned by The Scottish Goldsmiths Trust, a charity set up to promote silversmithing in Scotland.ie Coltrane, Bily Connolly, Sir Sean Connery, Sir Cameron Mackintosh Ewan McGregor, Alexander McQueen, Ian Rankin, and Sharleen Spiteri.