{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O73778"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O73778/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BG6705/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BG6705/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BG6705","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BG6706","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AT7549","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O73778","accessionNumber":"CIRC.624-1962","objectType":"Pendant","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Over the centuries artists have often brought new ideas to jewellery design. In Britain, in the 1950s and '60s, they contributed greatly to the growth of individual expression, perhaps because they were working outside any commercial constraints. \r\n\r\nIn 1961 designs by artists were shown at the International Exhibition of Modern Jewellery, held at the Goldsmiths' Hall, London. This groundbreaking exhibition aimed to 'stimulate public interest in jewellery as an art and to encourage British designers in this field'. Many artists were invited to contribute, some making jewellery for the first time. They were sent a small box of wax, from which they modelled a piece and returned it to the organisers for casting in silver or bronze. \r\n\r\nThese artists' jewels reflected a diversity of influences. Often rough-textured and heavy, they added a fascinating new dimension to the use of metals. As the catalogue said, they 'proved, if proof be needed, that cheap materials need not mean artistic insignificance, and that creative imagination shown with one visual art can very often be diverted to another'. \r\n\r\nThese precepts, heralding alternative priorities within jewellery, helped consolidate the position of the emerging artist-jewellery movement. \r\n\r\nElizabeth Frink (1930-93) was a renowned sculptor and printmaker. Her work was mainly figurative and her favoured themes were the male figure and animals. Her name was given to a new school in 1996, 'The Frink School of Figurative Sculpture' near Stoke on Trent.","physicalDescription":"Cruciform bronze pendant in the form of a stylized bird, designed to be worn on a leather thong. The body is made up of an irregular oval, open in the centre, the wings and tail, of similarly shaped bronze ovals. The upper part of the pendant suggests a bird's head, seen in profile.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Frink, Elizabeth (Dame)","id":"A6485"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"AAT25190"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"HJ Company","id":"A7481"},"association":{"text":"manufacturer","id":"AAT25230"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Bronze","id":"AAT10957"}],"techniques":[{"text":"Casting","id":"AAT53104"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Modelled in wax and cast in bronze","categories":[{"text":"Jewellery","id":"THES48930"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2006BG6705","2006BG6706","2006AT7549"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"91","id":"THES49703"},"free":"","case":"34","shelf":"A","box":"1"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Pendant","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1961","earliest":"1961-01-01","latest":"1961-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"12","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"10.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"unmarked"}],"objectHistory":"Commissioned from Elizabeth Frink for the International Exhibition of Modern Jewellery, Goldsmiths Hall, London, 1961. A matchbox full of wax was sent to a number of contemporary artists with which they modelled a jewel. The wax model was then returned to the organisers of the exhibition to be cast in metal. These artist's pieces, often rough-textured and heavy, added a fascinating and new dimension and as the exhibition catalogue stated, 'proved, if proof be needed, that cheap materials need not mean artistic insignificance, and that creative imagination shown with one visual art can very often be diverted to another.'","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Pendant in the form of a stylized bird, by Elizabeth Frink, 1961. Cast by HJ Company, London.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"'Jewels and Jewellery' Clare Phillips, V&A Publications, 2000"},{"reference":{"text":"<i>International Exhibition of Modern Jewellery 1890- 1961</i>, London: Worshipful Co. of Goldsmiths, 1961","id":"AUTH357900"},"details":"no.313","free":""}],"production":"Made for the International Exhibition of Modern Jewellery, Goldsmiths Hall, 1961.\n\nReason For Production: Exhibition","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"Bird","id":"x35043"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["CIRC.624-1962"],"accessionNumberNum":"624","accessionNumberPrefix":"CIRC","accessionYear":1962,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LP9805","2019LT2555","2019LV9697","2020MP1852"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-24","recordCreationDate":"2003-02-03","availableToBook":false}}