{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O16583"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O16583/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BG4674/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BG4674/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BG4674","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BC9812","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JA2775","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AG3020","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BA0902","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AV5914","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AT7810","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JV6804","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JV9502","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O16583/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O16583","accessionNumber":"P.40&A-1935","objectType":"Portrait miniature","titles":[{"title":"Portrait Miniature of Mrs Jane Small, formerly Mrs Pemberton","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"When Holbein painted this image in 1536, it was virtually unknown in England for anyone other than courtiers to be recorded in a portrait. Until then portraiture had been a part of the funeral traditions of the powerful rather than a celebration of more modest lives. This beautiful miniature, however, shows that almost from the moment of its invention the portrait miniature was not exclusively a court art. A coat of arms, painted on a piece of vellum long associated with this portrait and set in the lid, identifies the sitter as ‘Mrs Pemberton’. This identification had always been something of a puzzle, since Mrs Pemberton appeared to be the wife of an obscure country gentleman living in a Northamptonshire village, far from both the court and Holbein’s practice in London. Recently, however, the evidence has been reinterpreted, and the more likely explanation is that the sitter was Mrs Jane Small, whose maiden name was Pemberton. Jane was the wife of a prosperous London merchant, Nicholas Small, and they were close neighbours of Holbein. Possibly painted to commemorate her engagement to Nicholas Small, a London cloth merchant and Holbein’s neighbour, though the reason she is shown with a red flower, two ears of corn, and a leaf remains unknown.","physicalDescription":"Oval portrait miniature depicting Jane Small (born Pemberton), aged 23. The portrait shows her in half-length, turned to the right, in a closed posture with her hands close together and her gaze directed downward. She is shown wearing a red carnation, a symbol of betrothal, set against a blue background that contains an inscription in Latin: <i> \"In the year of her age 23.\" </i>The miniature is set in a case with enamel decorations and small fresh-water pearls. ","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on vellum ","categories":[{"text":"Images Online","id":"THES48937"},{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"},{"text":"Miniatures","id":"THES269968"}],"styles":[{"text":"Tudor","id":"AAT21035"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006BG4674","2006BC9812","2016JA2775","2006AG3020","2006BA0902","2006AV5914","2006AT7810","2017JV6804","2017JV9502"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"90A","id":"THES49164"},"free":"","case":"CA002","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"LVLF","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"RMC","shelf":"1","box":"A"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"miniature","id":"AAT33936"}],[{"text":"Lid","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca.1536","earliest":"1531-01-01","latest":"1540-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased with Art Fund support, and the assistance of the Murray Bequest and an anonymous donor","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"52","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"65","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"2022","earliest":"2022-01-01","latest":"2022-12-31"},"part":"lid","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from: Strong, Roy. <u>Artists of the Tudor Court: the Portrait Miniature Rediscovered 1520-1620.</u>. London: The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983. ","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Portrait Miniature, Portrait miniature of Mrs Jane Small, formerly Mrs Pemberton, by Hans Holbein, watercolour on vellum in a circular case with enamel decorations and small fresh-water pearls, ca. 1536.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Foister, Susan, with contributions by Tim Batchelor <u>Holbein in England</u> Tate Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 1 85437 645 4."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>100 Great Paintings in The Victoria & Albert Museum</u><i>.</i> London: The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985, pp. 38-39"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Strong, Roy. <u>Artists of the Tudor Court: the Portrait Miniature Rediscovered 1520-1620.</u>. London: The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983. "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Marks, Richard and Paul Williamson, eds.  <u>Gothic: Art for England, 1400-1547</u>.  London: V&amp;A Publications, 2003. 496 p. : ill.  1851774017 (hbk.) 1851774025 (pbk.).\r\n\r\n"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Lorne Campbell ‘<u>Holbein’s Miniature of “Mrs Pemberton”: The Identity of the Sitter’, Burlington Magazine</u> (1987), vol CXXIX, pp.366-371"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Katherine Coombs, <u>The Portrait Miniature in England</u>, V&A Publications, 1998, pp.87-92."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Katherine Coombs, <i>Finney, Samuel (1719-1798)</i>', <u>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</u>, Oxford University Press, 2004."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Damiët Schneeweisz, Rosalind McKever, and Adriana Concin. <i>The Portrait Miniature: A New History.</i> London: Thames & Hudson  and the V&A, 2026."},{"reference":{"text":"Damiët Schneeweisz, Rosalind McKever, and Adriana Concin. <i>The Portrait Miniature: A New History</i>. London: Thames & Hudson and the V&A, 2026.","id":"AUTH411474"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"Portrait miniature of a woman, half-length, turned to right, contained in a circular case, the lid decorated with a dragon and other heraldic devices.","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Jane Small","id":"N927"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Gothic\r\nPortrait of Jane Small\r\nAbout 1540\r\nHans Holbein the Younger\r\n1497/8-1543\r\n\r\nJane Small was the wife of a London cloth Merchant.  Her social status is reflected in her relatively simple costume.  The red carnation at her bosom is perhaps a reference to her betrothal.  This probably took place around 1540 and may have been marked by this portrait.\r\n\r\nBody colour on vellum\r\nPainted in London\r\nInscribed in Latin 'In the year of her age 23'\r\n\r\nV&A: P.40-1935.  Purchased with the assistance of the National Art Collections Fund\r\nCat.","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["P.40-1935","P.40A-1935"],"accessionNumberNum":"40","accessionNumberPrefix":"P","accessionYear":1935,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Miniature","Lid"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-14","recordCreationDate":"1999-12-15","availableToBook":false}}