{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O154550"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O154550/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BR3492/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BR3492/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BR3492","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BR3559","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O154550","accessionNumber":"M.55-2007","objectType":"Necklace","titles":[{"title":"Channel Tryst Rope - Gold","type":"assigned by artist"}],"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\nOrganic materials, derived from animal or plant sources, often have a very low intrinsic value, but many have been used in jewellery since ancient times. \r\n\r\nThe Australian jeweller Rowena Gough (born 1958) sees her button jewellery in the context of South Pacific culture, where the use of shell often has social and political implications. She became interested in this through visits to New Zealand. \r\n\r\nButtons play an important role in her work. She made her first necklace of buttons in 1992, and used baby buttons from the family button box. This particular necklace is made from identical, antique (c. 1900) mother of pearl buttons and a continuous length of forged gold (20 carat) wire. The necklace's length was measured to fall from her neck to her toes. \r\n\r\nIn an Artists Statement of 2007 she wrote 'The pearl shell button has held an attraction and power for me as a simple object which symbolises both personal history and meaning - across time, across cultures. The experience held in this work is both a reference to my pioneering family history - of women's domestic labours and endeavours - and a fascination with the traditional use of shell carved, sewn and woven into the ritual objects found throughout the cultures of the Pacific.'","physicalDescription":"Long continuous and double-sided strand of mother of pearl buttons linked by cross-woven flattened gold wire.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Gough, Rowena","id":"A22182"},"association":{"text":"designer and maker","id":"x34662"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"mother of pearl","id":"AAT11835"},{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Antique mother-of-pearl buttons (ca. 1900) and gold wire (20 carat)","categories":[{"text":"Jewellery","id":"THES48930"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Europeana Fashion Project","id":"THES265804"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2007BR3492","2007BR3559"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"91","id":"THES49703"},"free":"","case":"39","shelf":"B","box":"3"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"necklace","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1999","earliest":"1999-01-01","latest":"1999-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Royal College of Art Visiting Artists Collection","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"29.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"approx.","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"unmarked"}],"objectHistory":"Designed and made by Rowena Gough while leading a masterclass at the RCA.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Necklace of mother of pearl buttons, by the Australian jeweller Rowena Gough, London 1999.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["M.55-2007"],"accessionNumberNum":"55","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":2007,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-18","recordCreationDate":"2008-05-13","availableToBook":false}}