{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O75504"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O75504/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AF8815/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AF8815/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AF8815","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AP6302","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JU4211","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O75504/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O75504","accessionNumber":"P.23-1923","objectType":"Portrait Miniature","titles":[{"title":"Portrait Miniature of the wife of a purser in the East India Company's service, with two of her children","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"This charming miniature shows a mother and her two children holding a basket of fruit. Another miniature portrait by Hayter in the Museum’s collection shows a small boy holding this very miniature (Museum no.P.24-1923), which is presumably of his mother and his siblings. A drawing also by Hayter in the Museum (Museum no. E.3150-1920) is a sketch in pencil of the same little boy. It is inscribed in ink ‘Son of an E I purser’, showing that he was the son of a purser in the service of the East India Company. We can assume therefore that this miniature is of the wife of this purser and of his other children. \r\n\r\nIt is possible that the pair were painted to send out to him in India. The child on the right is a girl, but the one on the left is probably a boy. Since Tudor times small boys from better-off families had been dressed in their early years in exactly the same dress as girls, often until the age of six. The process of ‘breeching’, when the boy shed his petticoats, was a proud family occasion. By 1800, when this portrait was painted, boys usually graduated out of dresses at about four years old.","physicalDescription":"This portrait miniature is the one depicted being held and pointed to by a boy in another portrait miniature by Hayter in the V&A collection (Museum Number P.23-1923).  It is probable that this is an image of the boy's mother and siblings.  In which case the woman is the wife of an East India Company purser (see note for P.23-1923).  The children are holding a basket of fruit with a pear, grapes and plums.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Hayter, Charles","id":"A7739"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"AAT15045"},{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting","id":"AAT54216"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on ivory","categories":[{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"},{"text":"Children & Childhood","id":"THES48980"},{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Miniatures","id":"THES269968"},{"text":"Colonialism and empire","id":"THES253004"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006AF8815","2006AP6302","2017JU4211"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"90A (VA)","id":"THES49164"},"free":"","case":"CA012","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"miniature (painting)","id":"AAT33936"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1800","earliest":"1800-01-01","latest":"1800-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"P.24-1923","id":"O75508"},"association":"Ensemble"}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"89","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"71","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Portrait Miniature, Portrait Miniature of the wife of a purser in the East India Company's service, and her two children, by Charles Hayter (1761-1835) watercolour on ivory, British School, 1800. This miniature is held in the hand of a boy depicted in a miniature also by Hayter (see P.24-1923).","bibliographicReferences":[{"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":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"family","id":"AAT55474"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["P.23-1923"],"accessionNumberNum":"23","accessionNumberPrefix":"P","accessionYear":1923,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LP7557","2019LP0885","2019LU9282"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-14","recordCreationDate":"2003-02-26","availableToBook":false}}