{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O157920"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O157920/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BU1819/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BU1819/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2008BU1819","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BU1820","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MB5630","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O157920/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O157920","accessionNumber":"LOAN:GILBERT.302-2008","objectType":"Miniature","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This portrait depicts John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough in his armour and Order of the Garter badge. The miniature may have been commissioned to commemorate his victory in the important Battle of Blenheim during the War of the Spanish Succession. \r\n\r\nCharles Boit may have based this miniature on a similar portrait painted by Michael Dahl.  Boit was born in Sweden and lived in both Stockholm and Paris before arriving in England in 1687. He found success as a miniature painter after his arrival in 1687, and was appointed Court Enameller in 1696. In 1704 he was commissioned to make an ambitiously large enamel plaque commemorating the Battle of Blenheim, one that he would never complete despite being paid more than one advance on it. His debts in England eventually forced him to leave in 1714 for France, where he died in 1727.\r\n\r\nPortrait miniatures in enamel became popular in the early seventeenth century and remained so well into the nineteenth century. In this technique, finely powdered glass coloured by metal oxides was applied to a metal surface and fired.  Different colours required different firing temperatures, making it a long and technically demanding process.  Such painstaking efforts were rewarded by the finished portrait’s glossy finish and relative durability. \r\n\r\nSir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world’s great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes.  Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.","physicalDescription":"Rectangular miniature portrait of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough standing three quarters length wearing armour and a blue sash with the Order of the Garter, an ermine and red cloak and holding  his Field Marshall's baton. The miniature is enamel on copper and has a rectangular silver-gilt frame with a moulded surround.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Boit, Charles","id":"A9767"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"x40240"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"enamel","id":"AAT14910"},{"text":"silver-gilt","id":"x37998"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting (image-making)","id":"AAT54216"},{"text":"gilding","id":"AAT53789"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Enamel on copper, silver-gilt","categories":[{"text":"Enamels","id":"THES48876"},{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2008BU1819","2008BU1820","2019MB5630"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"011","id":"THES404893"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"miniature","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1705","earliest":"1700-01-01","latest":"1709-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"21","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"8.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"1.75","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured 29/01/24 IW","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Provenance: The Earls Spencer, Althorp. Acquired by Arthur Gilbert from S.J. Phillips Ltd, London, 1979.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Enamel miniature on copper of  John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, in a silver-gilt frame, ca.1705, by Charles Boit","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Coffin, Sarah and Bodo Hofstetter. <u>Portrait Miniatures in Enamel</u>. London: Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd. in association with the Gilbert Collection, 2000. 168 p., ill. Cat. no. 3, p. 51. ISBN 0856675334."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Schroder, Timothy, ed. <u>The Gilbert Collection at the V&A</u>. London (V&A Publishing) 2009, p. 88, pl. 68. ISBN9781851775934"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Catalogue of the pictures at Althorp House</u>. Privately Printed, 1831, p. 31, no. 455."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Marlborough, John Churchill (1st Duke of)","id":"N2024"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"4. John Churchill, 1st Duke of\r\nMarlborough\r\nAbout 1705\r\n\r\nEngland; Charles Boit (1662–1727)\r\nEnamel on copper in gilded silver frame\r\nMuseum no. Loan:Gilbert.302-2008","date":{"text":"16/11/2016","earliest":"2016-11-16","latest":"2016-11-16"}},{"text":"John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough\r\nAbout 1705\r\n\r\nCharles Boit reintroduced the art of enamel painting to\r\nEngland in the 1690s. He accepted advance payments\r\nto create a large enamel plaque depicting the Duke of\r\nMarlborough’s victory at the Battle of Blenheim (1704).\r\nUnable to finish the work, he fled England because of\r\ndebt.\r\n\r\nEngland; Charles Boit (1662–1727)\r\nEnamel on copper in gilded silver frame\r\nMuseum no. Loan:Gilbert.302-2008","date":{"text":"2009","earliest":"2009-01-01","latest":"2009-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["LOAN:GILBERT.302-2008"],"accessionNumberNum":"302","accessionNumberPrefix":"LOAN:GILBERT","accessionYear":2008,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House","id":"THES50384"},"number":"1996.769"},{"type":{"text":"Arthur Gilbert Number","id":"THES50383"},"number":"MIN 5"},{"type":{"text":"The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House","id":"THES50384"},"number":"1996.791.1"},{"type":{"text":"Arthur Gilbert Number","id":"THES50383"},"number":"MIN 26"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2017JU8460","2018LC0776"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-08","recordCreationDate":"2008-06-26","availableToBook":false}}