{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O145408"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O145408/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM5694/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM5694/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BM5694","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BM5695","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O145408","accessionNumber":"M.30-2007","objectType":"Pin","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This piece is part of the Royal College of Art Visiting Artists Collection. Every year from 1987 to 2006, while David Watkins was Professor of Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork and Jewellery at the RCA, he invited four jewellers and silversmiths from outside Britain to give a week-long masterclass. The artists brought diverse skills, aesthetics and approaches. The first call on their time was to interact closely with the students. In addition, although concentrating on their teaching and working in an unfamiliar studio, each artist generously made an object for the RCA's collection. The Royal College of Art Visiting Artists Collection, now transferred to the V&A, is a major document of international contemporary jewellery, a tribute both to the artists and to the vibrancy of the RCA as a teaching institution.\r\n\r\nIn common with artists working across a wide range of media, jewellers may set out to convey or provoke human emotions. Their works reaches beyond the figurative to the philosophical.\r\n\r\nThis gold object with a gestural expression is reminiscent of Robert Smit's figures conceived in a series of jewellery titled ‘Empty House’, ‘Working Woman’, ‘Lili’ and Bello’. These were legendary characters in gold outlines. His abstract figures or pictorial images are based on personal memories, and the narrative tends to be witty.                                               \r\nSmit first graduated in precision engineering, then gaining interest in jewellery through repairs he had done, he went on to be trained at the Staatliche Kunst und Werkschule in Pforzheim. In 1971 when Smit stopped making jewellery for an interim period he began drawing and painting. It was not long before the various media became intermingled. \r\n\r\nWhen Dutch contemporaries were using non-precious materials for jewellery, Smit defended the use of this traditional material. He had however an innovative approach in his application of gold.","physicalDescription":"Oval disc with three openings which form a mask-like face. The surface is covered with fine scratching. Made from one ounce of fine gold.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Smit, Robert","id":"A21280"},"association":{"text":"designer and maker","id":"x34662"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Gold (one ounce)","categories":[{"text":"Jewellery","id":"THES48930"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2007BM5694","2007BM5695"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"91","id":"THES49703"},"free":"","case":"43","shelf":"D","box":"1"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"pin","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1991","earliest":"1991-01-01","latest":"1991-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Royal College of Art Visiting Artists Collection","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"4.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"3.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'R.S 90'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Gold object. Designed and made by Robert Smit (The Netherlands, 1941), London 1991","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Peter Dormer/Ralph Turner, the new jewelry trends + traditions, London 1985 (Revised edition 1994)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"ornament as art, Avant-garde jewelry from the Helen Williams Drutt Collection, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Stuttgart 2007"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Fritz Falk/ Cornelie Holzach, Schmuck der Moderne, Modern Jewellery 1960-1998, Stuttgart 1999"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Amanda Game and Elizabeth Goring, Jewellery Moves, ornament for the 21st century, National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh 1998"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Jewels of Mind and Mentality, Dutch Jewelry Design 1950-2000, ‘s Hertogenbosch 2000"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"The Ego Adorned, 20th Century Artist Jewellery, Antwerp 2000"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Marjan Unger, Het Nederlandse sieraad in de 20ste eeuw, Bussum 2004"}],"production":"Made while leading a masterclass at the RCA","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"Mask","id":"x30067"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["M.30-2007"],"accessionNumberNum":"30","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":2007,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2022NF1243"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-09","recordCreationDate":"2008-02-15","availableToBook":false}}