{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O154463"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O154463/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NL3747/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NL3747/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2023NL3747","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NJ5738","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AY6335","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O154463","accessionNumber":"M.99-2008","objectType":"Cake slice","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Obviously function yielded to form in this ex voto work, since this sculptural tribute may be used only upon danger of self-inflicted bodily harm. The server owes nothing to stylistic history and emphasises the independence and originality of the artist. Mechanisation takes command in this very individual and personal interpretation. This object is active, not passive. It is an instrument. It demands attention. The serrated wheel and blade give visual warnings to the inattentive. In its humour, its startling form and its reassessment of design this is a truly Post-Modern piece.","physicalDescription":"The blade has been made as if from a segment of a circular carborundum-toothed saw-blade: a suitably notched sheet of fourteen-gauge silver has been folded back on itself to produce a sandwich of which the top surface does not completely cover the bottom. The turned crease has been chamfered to make a dull cutting edge. The bottom surface of the blade is pierced with an off-centre hole, and the top with a peripheral key shape. The cutting edge is approximately 5 7/8 in. (15cm) long. The blade is polished on the exterior surfaces and the interior has a white pickle finish. The handle is a curved eighteen-gauge (1mm) tube that is attached off-centre to the rear of the bottom plate. It has a sand-blasted spiral along its length and terminates in a 6 5/8 in (17cm) diameter, eighteen-gauge circular-saw finial that has a whited finish and is part creased upwards out of the plane. A short bandsaw segment attaches at the finial and carries a small charm-a cast hand!","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Ewing, Susan","id":"A22765"},"association":{"text":"designer and maker","id":"x34662"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silver","id":"AAT11029"}],"techniques":[{"text":"metal-cutting","id":"AAT54005"},{"text":"polishing","id":"AAT53867"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Silver","categories":[{"text":"Eating","id":"THES48963"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2023NL3747","2023NJ5738","2006AY6335"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"011","id":"THES408702"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Cake slice","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Ohio","id":"x29061"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1994","earliest":"1994-01-01","latest":"1994-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by the American Friends of the V&A through the generosity of Professor B. Seymour Rabinovitch","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"34.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"323","unit":"g","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Stamped in raised lettering: S.EWING / 925 / 1994","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":"Part of a collection of fish slices commissioned by Professor Rabinovitch from contemporary North American and British makers.","briefDescription":"Silver, USA, Oxford, Ohio, 1994, designed and made by Susan Ewing","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Benton Seymour Rabinovitch and Helen Clifford, <font -u>Contemporary Silver, commissioning designing collecting</font>, London, Merrell, pp.116-7.  ill. ISBN.1858941040"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"This collection of silver slices, all commissioned over a period of twenty years by Professor Benton Seymour Rabinovitch FRS, is proof of the skill and diversity of contemporary silversmiths.  Each artist craftsman has responded to the familiar functional form of the slice in an individual way, producing an astonishingly diverse range of interpretations.  Each piece becomes an enchanting, decorative work of art. Professor Rabinovitch established a close rapport with each artist, always encouraging a freedom of creative expression.  The response of these silversmiths has been not only to be strikingly imaginative but also to honour him by giving him their best work.\r\n\r\nThis collection is testimony to the significant contribution that one individual can make to supporting the craft of silversmithing.  After commissioning work from some of the most illustrious names in British and North American silversmithing, Professor Rabinovitch has very generously donated his entire collection to the Victoria and Albert Museum, through the American Friends of the V&A.","date":{"text":"2005","earliest":"2005-01-01","latest":"2005-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["M.99-2008"],"accessionNumberNum":"99","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":2008,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"previous loan number","id":"THES50326"},"number":"LOAN:AMERICANFRIENDS.126-2005"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-06-05","recordCreationDate":"2008-05-12","availableToBook":true}}