{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O73743"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O73743/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AX6159/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AX6159/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AX6159","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AX6080","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AU3733","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AX5158","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O73743","accessionNumber":"M.33:1, 2-1991","objectType":"Belt buckle","titles":[{"title":"Gendarme et Voleur","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"The title of this brooch is <i>Gendarme et Voleur</i> (policeman and thief) in reference to the <i>Guignol</i> or Punch and Judy show. It shows a policeman, with a large moustache and helmet, chasing a thief, shown with a knife. The idea of the chase is emphasized by the two dogs leaping over the centre rings and the extended limbs of the figures. \r\n\r\nLine Vautrin was a major figure in the Paris fashion world by the 1940s. She began making costume jewellery at the age of thirteen at her father's ironmongery business. Her first job was with the fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, but this remained a short interlude. By 1933 she decided to become independent and began to make jewellery mainly of gilded-bronze. Her career took off in 1937 at the ‘L’Exposition universelle’ in Paris, and thereafter Vautrin opened a succession of boutiques. She was one of the first designers to make artistic jewellery in gilt metal. Vautrin also made buttons and boxes and, later, larger pieces in resin. Her bold and simple designs have a subtle wit and complex ideas just below the surface.\r\n\r\nThe lack of precious materials during the war time gave her the inspiration to use gilt-bronze for her jewellery collections. Later she included porcelain, ivory and mother-of-pearl to her range of materials. Buttons, brooches, buckles, necklaces, boxes and accessories of all sorts were part of her repertoire. Vautrin’s designs are bold and sculptural, and her ideas have an element of wit and imagination.","physicalDescription":"The buckle is made up of several elements linked together as a chain, with the right hand double ring detaching to form the clasp and on the underside, two bars to which a belt would fasten at each end. The design, <font -i>Gendarme et Voleur</font -i> is based on the Guignol or Punch and Judy show. The policeman, recognisable by his large moustache and hat, and the thief by his knife are linked with elongated double rings all of gilded bronze. Over the centre pair of double rings run two dogs, as if chasing the thief, and the idea of the chase is reinforced by the extended arms and legs of the figures and the stretched appearance of the linking rings.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Vautrin, Line","id":"A7474"},"association":{"text":"jeweller","id":"AAT25409"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Bronze","id":"AAT10957"}],"techniques":[{"text":"Casting","id":"AAT53104"},{"text":"Gilding","id":"AAT53789"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Bronze, cast and gilded","categories":[{"text":"Jewellery","id":"THES48930"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2006AX6159","2006AX6080","2006AU3733","2006AX5158"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"91 (VA)","id":"THES49703"},"free":"","case":"30","shelf":"B","box":"9"},{"current":{"text":"91 (VA)","id":"THES49703"},"free":"","case":"30","shelf":"B","box":"9"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Belt buckle","id":""}],[{"text":"Belt buckle","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1946","earliest":"1941-01-01","latest":"1950-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by David Gill","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"4.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"26.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"LV","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"Underside of the policeman's hat.","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"1) Makers's mark","note":"1) Makers's mark; Underside of the policeman's hat."}],"objectHistory":"A similar buckle is illustrated in a collection of press cuttings, dated <font -i>22 Aout 1946</font -i> and the design used as an epaulette decoration is illustrated in <font -i>CAVALCADE 20 Juin 1946</font> and <font -i>PARIS PRESSE 29 Janvier 1947.</font>.\n\nHistorical significance: Line Vautrin, by the 1940s a major figure in the Paris fashion world, began making costume jewellery at the age of 13 at her father's ironmongery business. One of the first designers to make artistic jewellery in gilt metal, she also made buttons and boxes, and later, larger pieces in resin. Her designs appear bold and simple, with a subtle wit and complex ideas just below the surface. Her identity as a designer was always maintained as she not only designed but also ran a small traditional workshop in the Marais and had her own shop first near the Champs Elysées and later at 63 Faubourg Saint Honoré.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Gilt bronze belt buckle <font -i>Gendarme et Voleur</font -i>,  by Line Vautrin. France, ca. 1946.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"'Jewels and Jewellery' Clare Phillips, V&A Publications, 2000"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["M.33:2-1991","M.33:1-1991"],"accessionNumberNum":"33","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":1991,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Belt buckle [1]","Belt buckle [2]"],"assets":["2019LW6017","2019LW3753"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-24","recordCreationDate":"2003-02-03","availableToBook":false}}