He was the son of army captain Carl Edvard Mascoll Silfverstolpe and Elsa Maria Gagge.

Following his matriculation examination (studentexamen) in 1911, he entered Uppsala University and studied art history.

In 1918, he began working at the Royal Collections (Kungliga Husgerådskammaren).

He was a board member of the Swedish PEN Club from 1922.

[1] Silfverstolpe died just half a year after joining the Swedish Academy, which makes his tenure the shortest of any member to date.