{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O122621"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O122621/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AB9176/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AB9176/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AB9176","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AB9193","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O122621/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O122621","accessionNumber":"S.607:1&2-1997","objectType":"Snuff box","titles":[{"title":"Snuff box featuring the image' Life of an Actor. Empty Boxes'","type":"manufacturer's title"}],"summaryDescription":"The lid of this box is decorated with a transfer-printed engraving by the watercolour painter Theodore Lane (c.1800-1828) from Pierce Egan's book <i>The Life of an Actor</i> printed in 1825.  By this date Pierce Egan (1772-1849)  was well-known as the author of <i>Life in London, or Days and Nights of Jerry Hawthorne and his Elegant Friend Corinthian Tom</i> illustrated by George and Robert Cruikshank.  Egan invented <i>The Life of an Actor</i> around a series of thirty-six subjects designed and etched by Lane illustrating an actor's life. This shows a performance to an almost empty house - one of the difficulties that beset the actor in his book before he found fame and fortune.\r\n\r\nThe mass market for theatrical memorabilia such as this box developed in the eighteenth century and flourished in the nineteenth century, coinciding with the commercial production of papier maché for objects such as boxes and frames.  In 1772 a patent for the production of a durable papier maché was granted to Henry Clay of Birmingham who developed a process whereby layers of paper like blotting paper were pasted on to a wood or metal core, each layer being polished smooth with pumice stone.  The earliest boxes were hand painted but after about 1815 hand-painted boxes were supplanted by those decorated with coloured prints, pasted on and varnished. A wide variety of subjects were used, from prints of buildings such as the Crystal Palace, to images of landscapes and animals.  Boxes like these have generally been described as snuff boxes, too large to be portable but intended for table-top use.","physicalDescription":"Snuff box and lid.  The body of the box is painted black and the lid features a varnished, transfer-printed image of an engraving of a theatre interior entitled: 'Life of an Actor. Empty benches'.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Clay, Henry","id":"A17400"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":"possibly"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Wood","id":"AAT11914"},{"text":"Papier maché","id":"AAT14245"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Wood and papier maché","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Theatre","id":"THES250537"},{"text":"Containers","id":"THES48972"},{"text":"Audiences","id":"THES267738"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2006AB9176","2006AB9193"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"007","id":"THES355459"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"007","id":"THES355459"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"lid","id":""}],[{"text":"boxes (containers)","id":"AAT45643"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Birmingham","id":"x28748"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca.1840","earliest":"1835-01-01","latest":"1844-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"S.1135-1986","id":"O1112921"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"Accepted by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"1.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"box and lid","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"8.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of base","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Life of an Actor.  Empty benches'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Printed under the image"}],"objectHistory":"Samuel Johnson once visited Henry Clay's papier maché factory. For the entry of 20/21 September 1774, Johnson wrote in his Diary, 'We breakfasted with Hector and visited the Manufacture Papier mache. The paper which they use is smooth whited brown; the varnish is polished with rotten stone'. He was referring to his visit to Henry Clay's factory where he saw 'his process of japanning by pressing sheet of paper together instead of using paper pulp'. Clay had been trained by Baskerville in the art of japanning and among the materials finished with enamel was a kind of paper pulp, used for making various objects, such as snuff-boxes and picture frames. It is believed that Baskerville himself introduced the process about 1750 but in 1772 Clay produced and patented a material, also made from paper but more durable, which could be more easily worked, was better finished and lent itself better to the making of objects of real beauty. Taking an active part in the life of Birmingham society, Clay was appointed High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1790, and is justly recognized as one of the significant revolutionary players of eighteenth-century Birmingham alongside Baskerville, Taylor and Boulton.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Snuff box featuring a transfer-printed, varnished image by Theodore Lane (c.1800-1828) showing empty pit benches, from the book <i>The Life of An Actor</i> written by Pierce Egan (1772-1849) and illustrated by Theodore Lane (c.1800-1828).  Probably intended as a table-top snuff box.  Papier maché, probably made in Birmingham, c.1846.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>European and American Snuff Boxes 1730-1830</i> by Clair Le Corbeiller, Battsford 1966"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.607:2-1997","S.607:1-1997"],"accessionNumberNum":"607","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":1997,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","lid","Box"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-08","recordCreationDate":"2006-04-03","availableToBook":true}}