{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1531569"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1531569/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021NC0097/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021NC0097/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2021NC0097","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB7733","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1531569/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1531569","accessionNumber":"M.9-2020","objectType":"Brooch","titles":[{"title":"Mateotis (Greek word meaning futility)","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"There are many strands of reference and meaning within this complex brooch. These range from autobiographical reflections on the lack of opportunity and sexual equality in the Greece of Kafiri’s childhood and the conflict between her desire to express herself and the injunction to be self-effacing, to musings on the nature of royalty in the Silver Jubilee year of Her Majesty the Queen. The artist has explained that the doll-like head is taken from shop mannequins of the 1930s while her tears are meant to convey silent endurance; the wings are those of a bat which in the Hindu tradition symbolise wealth and fortune; the egg stands for fertility, and the cross on it for the impact of religion. The chains which hold the ebony-framed mirror also wrap also around the female figure, locked with a padlock at the back. Designed to be worn centrally on the bodice, in the manner of an eighteenth-century stomacher brooch, the head is angled so that it looks down into the mirror, a comment on how pervasive she felt the influence of the Victorians still was in London during the 1970s. The snakes, she mentions, were modelled from live snakes kept at that time in the RCA for the students to draw.\n\r\nFotini Kafiri was born in Tripoli, Greece, in 1943 and studied graphic design at the Doxiadis School of Art, Athens. In 1969 she came to London on a Greek government scholarship to train as a silversmith at Hornsey College of Art, from where she won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art (1972-75). On graduating her work was recognised with a Crafts magazine feature and she was awarded a Crafts Council Workshop Grant. She enjoyed a long teaching career, establishing and running the Supporting Studies course which offered three weeks of jewellery tuition to students from other disciplines at West Surrey College of Art and Design, and teaching at City of London Polytechnic / London Guildhall University. \r\n","physicalDescription":"A large brooch with a doll-like female head between arched wings of beaten silver. The face is impassive but the eyes are weeping. Her silver wings, ribbed and curving, descend to a point, while two serpents of red and yellow gold are entwined down one side, the upper of which supports on its head a small egg of rock crystal inscribed with a cross. Hanging below, from gold chains is an oval mirror in an ebony frame. The chains connect the mirror to the lower edges of the wings then pass behind them, crossing and encircling the figure's neck. The ends of the chains are fastened by a tiny gold padlock at the back. A hinged three-pronged pin is fitted to the reverse.\r\n","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Fotini H J Kafiri","id":"AUTH356819"},"association":{"text":"designed and made by","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silver","id":"AAT11029"},{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"},{"text":"boxwood","id":"AAT12002"},{"text":"rock crystal","id":"AAT11152"},{"text":"ebony","id":"AAT12055"},{"text":"lacquer","id":"AAT14916"},{"text":"mirrored glass","id":"AAT10881"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Hand-beaten silver, carved and lacquered boxwood, gold, rock crystal, ebony and mirrored glass. ","categories":[{"text":"Jewellery","id":"THES48930"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2021NC0097","2021NB7733"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"91","id":"THES49703"},"free":"","case":"37","shelf":"B","box":"8"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Brooch","id":"THES287566"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1972-75","earliest":"1972-01-01","latest":"1975-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"219","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"127","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"42","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"1972 inscribed on pin fitting","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":"Brooch in the form of a winged female figure, silver, gold, carved and lacquered boxwood, ebony, rock crystal and mirrored glass, designed and made by Fotini H J Kafiri, England, 1972-75","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Included in the V&A exhibition 'Jubilee Jewellery', V&A Main Entrance, 1977. See RF 79/155\r\nIncluded in the Goldsmiths' Company exhibition 'Celebration in Gold and Silver' in 2002, catalogue number 81 "}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["M.9-2020"],"accessionNumberNum":"9","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":2020,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-18","recordCreationDate":"2020-02-25","availableToBook":false}}