RICHMOND, VA.-Drinking customs and vessels and how they have changed over four centuries will be the topic of an event including a lecture, a book signing and a wine tasting March 12 at 6 p.m. at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Philippa Glanville, now a senior research fellow and a former chief curator of metalwork at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, will lecture on the topic "Toasting and Tasting: The Art of Drinking." She is the author of the book "The Art of Drinking," published last year by the London museum.

The event will also feature a display, "A Celebration of Bacchus," in VMFA's Jerome and Rita Gans Gallery of English Silver. VMFA's Gans Collection is one of the finest assemblages of English silver in the world and includes superb silver and silver-gilt vessels that were made for the service of wine.

Following the lecture, there will be a tasting of fine wines made from five of the nine classic grapes - Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Syrah. For each of the varietals, participants will be able to compare a wine from New World wine-producing countries with one produced in the Old World. In addition, each wine will be paired with a selection of light hors d'oeuvres.

Following the lecture and wine tasting Glanville will sign copies of her book.

"The Art of Drinking" examines the social history of drinking and explains how and why such a wealth of extraordinary objects related to the custom came to be created. The book also explores how attitudes have changed through history and the way ritual and ceremony have shaped our relationship to drinking. Glanville's book is also replete with information on a wealth of surprising customs and entertaining facts about the taste for wine, beer, gin, rum and other alcoholic beverages.

Glanville was guest curator of "Drink: A History 1690-1920," a 2006-07 exhibition at the National Archives of the United Kingdom. She is also the author and editor with Hilary Young of "Silver and Elegant Eating" and is a former academic director of Waddesdon Manor, a late 19th-century home in Buckinghamshire, England, built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild to entertain and to display his collection of art treasures.

Tickets to the event are $65 (members $50) and must be purchased in advance at the museum, by telephone (804-340-1405), or on-line (tickets.vmfa.museum).

Additional information is on the VMFA Web site at www.vmfa.museum.