{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O158054"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O158054/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BU1834/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BU1834/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2008BU1834","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BU1835","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MA8966","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O158054/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O158054","accessionNumber":"LOAN:GILBERT.289-2008","objectType":"Miniature","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745) was a politician and Great Britain's first Prime Minister.  He was also an important early patron of significant silversmiths whose works are also found in the Gilbert collection.  His youngest son was the writer and collector Horace Walpole (1717-1797) of Strawberry Hill.  \r\n\r\nIn the 17th century, new techniques of painting enamels allowed delicate portraits resembling tiny oil paintings to be created. These enamel miniatures were first fashionable in continental Europe, but were particularly in vogue in Britain from the 1720s to 1760s. Painted enamels were made by firing finely milled glass which had been coloured with metal oxides onto a metal base, usually gold or copper. The colours had to be applied and fired in several stages, according to the firing temperature required by each colour. Incredible precision was needed for a successful enamel portrait, since each firing carried risks of cracks and bubbles that might ruin the entire effort.\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":"Oval portrait miniature of Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, shown half length wearing a full-bottomed grey wig, the Lord Chancellor's Treasury robes, a lace cravat and the blue sash and star of the Order of the Garter.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Zincke, Christian Friedrich","id":"A9842"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"x40240"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"enamel","id":"AAT14910"},{"text":"copper","id":"AAT11020"},{"text":"silver","id":"AAT11029"}],"techniques":[{"text":"enamelling","id":"x37485"},{"text":"framing","id":"AAT240903"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Enamel on copper, silver frame","categories":[{"text":"Enamels","id":"THES48876"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2008BU1834","2008BU1835","2019MA8966"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"008","id":"THES412924"},"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. 1743","earliest":"1738-01-01","latest":"1747-12-31"},"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":"9.28","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"6.48","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"0.89","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Updated with measurements taken 29/07/08","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Provenance: Sale, Sotheby's London, lot 30, 06/06/1996.  S.J. Phillips, London, 01/08/1997.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Enamel miniature on copper of Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, in a silver frame, England, ca. 1743, by Christian Frederick Zincke.","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. 75, p. 122. ISBN 0856675334."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Walpole, Robert 1st Earl of Orford","id":"N2030"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"11. Prime Minister Robert Walpole,\r\n1st Earl of Orford\r\nAbout 1743\r\n\r\nEngland; Christian Friedrich Zincke (about 1683–1767)\r\nEnamel on copper in silver frame\r\nMuseum no. Loan:Gilbert.289-2008","date":{"text":"16/11/2016","earliest":"2016-11-16","latest":"2016-11-16"}},{"text":"Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford\r\nAbout 1743\r\n\r\nEngland; Christian Friedrich Zincke (about 1683–1767)\r\nEnamel on copper in silver frame\r\nMuseum no. Loan:Gilbert.289-2008","date":{"text":"2009","earliest":"2009-01-01","latest":"2009-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["LOAN:GILBERT.289-2008"],"accessionNumberNum":"289","accessionNumberPrefix":"LOAN:GILBERT","accessionYear":2008,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House","id":"THES50384"},"number":"1998.22.1"},{"type":{"text":"Arthur Gilbert Number","id":"THES50383"},"number":"MIN 60"},{"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":["2018LC0765"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-10-10","recordCreationDate":"2008-06-26","availableToBook":false}}