{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O384617"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O384617/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JF5951/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JF5951/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2016JF5951","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JF5952","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JF5953","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JF5954","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O384617","accessionNumber":"M.3-1968","objectType":"Cigar box","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"In the space of only fifteen years from the late 1880s, Alexander Fisher was almost  solely responsible for a major innovation in the English decorative arts; the  establishment of enamel work as an important element of metalwork design, beyond  its limited applications in the jewellery and watchmaking trades.  He was gifted  silversmith, enameller and sculptor, who made a major artistic contribution to the Arts  and Crafts movement.  He was one of the foremost educators in an age when art  education was revolutionized.  From 1896 to 1908, The Studio published twenty  pieces illustrating his work.  Other journals publicised his work throughout Europe  and America.  And yet the known details of his life are sketchy.\r\n\r\nAlexander Fisher was born in Shelton, Staffordshire on March 3, 1864.  His father was  a ceramics painter for Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co and from the 1870s, for the  Terra Cotta Co.  His son enamelled on terracotta with his father before winning a  National Scholarship in painting at the National Art Training Schools, South  Kensington 1884-86 and subsequently a travelling scholarship to Italy and France.  On returning to London he opened a studio at 139 Oxford Street and then at a  succession of addresses in Kensington.\r\n\r\nFisher's entry into the field of enamelling was encouraged by Thomas Armstrong, the  Director of Art of the Science and Art Department, South Kensington. Armstrong  commissioned a French enameller, Louis Dalpayrat (1838-1900) to give a series of  lessons in the technique of enamelling to twelve students of which Fisher was one  and the only one to continue to study and refine the techniques after the course had  finished.  Fisher mastered all enamelling techniques, champlevé, cloisonné,  bassetaille, plique à jour and painted enamel.  It was with this last technique that  Fisher particularly excelled and which is used in the Easton triptych, where the  painted enamel is laid on a background of metal foil giving the work an extraordinary  depth and luminosity of colour.  Fisher's position in the Arts and Crafts movement can  be aligned with the work of artists such as Edward Burne-Jones and designers such  as William Morris. \r\n\t \r\nFisher's role as an educator was enormously influential and took two forms: private  tuition for necessarily wealthy patrons and involvement with art schools. Fisher was  closely involved with W.R. Lethaby and the foundation of the Central School of Arts  and Crafts. Fisher, as well as teaching enamelling and silversmithing techniques at  the Central School also taught enamelling at the City and Guilds Technical College  based in Finsbury for 22 years which also became a significant element in the new art  movement. These initiatives had a direct effect on the growth and success of the Arts  and Crafts movement.\r\n\r\nAlexander Fisher's importance is as a major artist of the British Arts and Crafts  movement, a superb technician and a prominent figure in the development of British  art school education in the 20th century.","physicalDescription":"Cigar box, gilt metal with a wooden lining within, the top embellished with an applied enamelled plaque.  Rectangular box, gilt inside and out, hinged lid.  The painted enamel plaque of oblong form, with a portrait subject intended to be seen from one end of the box;  it is applied by means of a gilt metal frame secured by eight pins to the lid.  The subject is an angel perched in a tree and holding a harp.  Below, in a scroll, `Anno 1899'.  Signed A. Fisher in the lower right hand corner.  The background blue; the angel also foiled, with red wings and gold hair and robe.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Alexander Fisher","id":"A8387"},"association":{"text":"designer and maker","id":"x34662"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"brass","id":"AAT10946"},{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"},{"text":"enamel","id":"AAT14910"},{"text":"wood","id":"AAT11914"}],"techniques":[{"text":"gilding","id":"AAT53789"},{"text":"enamelling","id":"x37485"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Containers","id":"THES48972"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"}],"styles":[{"text":"Arts and Crafts Movement","id":"AAT21205"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2016JF5951","2016JF5952","2016JF5953","2016JF5954"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES404530"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Cigar Box","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"designed and made","id":"x39722"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1899","earliest":"1899-01-01","latest":"1899-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Mrs H.W. Janson","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"5.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"18","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"12","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Signed `A. Fisher' ","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"In the lower right hand corner of the enamel plaque."},{"content":"Anno 1899","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Within a scroll."}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Cigar Box, gilt brass and enamel with a wooden lining, London, 1899, signed and dated by Alexander Fisher.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"angel","id":"x31516"},{"text":"tree","id":"x37637"},{"text":"harp","id":"x31558"},{"text":"scroll","id":"x44680"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["M.3-1968"],"accessionNumberNum":"3","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":1968,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-05-16","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":true}}