{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O120207"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O120207/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AB9245/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AB9245/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AB9245","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O120207/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O120207","accessionNumber":"S.952-1996","objectType":"Figurine","titles":[{"title":"Isabella Glyn as Lady Macbeth","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Earthenware flatbacks and figurines for mantelpiece decoration were first produced in Staffordshire in the late 1830s. The earliest datable figures appear to be of Queen Victoria. Production of earthenware figures continued throughout Victoria's lifetime, but although they were still made after her death in 1901, few appear to have been produced after 1905.  During their heyday, however, they were produced in vast numbers, usually modelled after prints.  They represented a wide variety of subjects but those of actors and actresses were especially popular, and this is Isabella Glyn (1823-1889) as Lady Macbeth. The source for this figurine was a plate in the Tallis <i>Shakespeare Gallery </i>engravings, 1852-1853.  It is modelled in the style of the Parr factory and was issued in two sizes.\r\n\r\nIsabella Glyn was born Isabella Gearns in Edinburgh, studied acting in Paris, had acting lessons from Charles Kemble, and went on the stage against her Presbyterian parents' wishes, using her mother's maiden name of Glyn.  She made her first professional appearance in <i>King John</i> at Manchester in 1847, followed in 1848 by her first London appearance at the Olympic Theatre as Lady Macbeth, a role she played again in 1850 at Sadler's Wells Theatre with Samuel Phelps as Macbeth.  Isabella Glyn was a statuesque actress with a voluptuous figure, a resonant voice, a dark complexion and strong expressive features.  It was said of her portrayal of Cleopatra in 1867 that: 'Antony might well lose the world for such a woman'.\n\n","physicalDescription":"Figurine depicting Isabella Glyn in costume as Lady Macbeth.  She has a black bodice with a wide neckline and one long sleeve and one short sleeve, a white skirt with a pink floral pattern, and a pink scarf with yellow and white fringe draped round her waist.  She holds a white cloth in her right hand.  She stands on an integral base, painted to suggest grass, with the words 'Lady Macbeth' at the front.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"makers","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"earthenware","id":"x29356"},{"text":"glaze","id":"AAT15091"}],"techniques":[{"text":"moulding","id":"x46876"},{"text":"firing (heating)","id":"AAT53887"},{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"},{"text":"glazing (coating)","id":"AAT53914"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Glazed earthenware, with painted decoration","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Figures & Decorative ceramics","id":"THES48954"},{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Theatre","id":"THES250537"},{"text":"Shakespeare","id":"THES253244"},{"text":"Earthenware","id":"THES48964"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2006AB9245"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES355435"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"figurines","id":"AAT47455"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Staffordshire","id":"x29181"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca.1852","earliest":"1847-01-01","latest":"1856-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Accepted by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"25.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"8.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"maximum width","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"8.25","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of base","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"3.0","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of base","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"8.0","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of base","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'LADY MACBETH'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscribed on the base."}],"objectHistory":"Isabella Glyn first played Lady Macbeth at London's Olympic Theatre, 21 February 1848, and again at Sadler's Wells Theatre with Samuel Phelps as Macbeth, 20 March 1850.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Earthenware flat-back figure of Isabella Glyn (1823-1889) as Lady Macbeth, the role she first played at the Olympic Theatre in 1848. Staffordshire, ca.1852","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>Staffordshire Portrait Figures of the Victorian Era</i> by P.D. Gordon Pugh, p.422, fig.7."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>Victorian Staffordshire Figures 1835-1875</i>  Book 1.  A & N. Harding"}],"production":"Modelled after the Tallis Shakespeare Gallery engraving entitled 'Miss Glyn as Lady Macbeth, Act 1, scene 5'","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Glyn, Isabella","id":"N4790"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":["Macbeth"],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.952-1996"],"accessionNumberNum":"952","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":1996,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-23","recordCreationDate":"2006-01-04","availableToBook":true}}