{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O81936"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O81936/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AF8994/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AF8994/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AF8994","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BC8995","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O81936/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O81936","accessionNumber":"P.66-1968","objectType":"Portrait Miniature","titles":[{"title":"Portrait Miniature of an Unknown Man, perhaps Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 2nd Earl of Shaftesbury ","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Miniature portraits were central to the visual culture of the Restoration court. Their small scale drew attention to the finest details of dress and expression, allowing painters to emphasise the luxury and refinement that defined aristocratic identity. With meticulous brushwork, every curl of hair, shimmer of lace, and fold of fabric was brought vividly to life. \r\nSamuel Cooper, the foremost miniature painter of the period, mastered this art with portraits that exuded confidence and elegance. His sitters embodied the flamboyant spirit of the restored Stuart monarchy. In his portrait of Anthony Ashley-Cooper (1652–1699), later a member of Parliament, Cooper conveys a striking sense of self-assurance. Dramatic lighting accentuates his face, while a backdrop of clouds parting to reveal blue sky hints at political change and the promise of renewal after years of instability.\r\nFashion played a crucial role in this image of power. Voluminous curled wigs, wide lace or linen collars, and richly embroidered coats often paired with colourful sashes fused martial authority with courtly grace. Cooper’s portraits reflected the spirit of the Restoration itself: a vision of noble masculinity, cultivated elegance. ","physicalDescription":"Portrait, turned to right and looking to front.  Features in a firm free hatch of sanguine and brown shadowed with blue-grey, the flesh blended with white over a creamy carnation; the hair in brown washes, hatched with darker colour with much pale gouache heightening; the costume in gouache washes, hatched and heightened with metallic gold and silver decoration; plain opaque brown wash background, blending to the right into a dark sky and clouds in various grey washes; on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Cooper, Samuel","id":"A8275"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"E. J. Shewry","id":"AUTH315362"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":"locket"}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"AAT15045"},{"text":"vellum","id":"x42751"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on vellum, put down on a leaf from a table book in a gilt locket","categories":[{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"},{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Miniatures","id":"THES269968"}],"styles":[{"text":"English School","id":"x44855"},{"text":"Stuart","id":"AAT21037"},{"text":"Restoration","id":"AAT113602"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006AF8994","2006BC8995"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"90A (VA)","id":"THES49164"},"free":"","case":"6","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"miniature","id":"AAT33936"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1666-1670","earliest":"1666-01-01","latest":"1670-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"83.5","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"66","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"<u>Provenance:</u> Notionally (but see below) in the possession of the Earls of Shaftesbury at St Giles near Cranborne, Dorset; sold to Samuel Addington c.1860, and by him to J Heywood Hawkins c.1865; C HT Hawkins, his sale, Christie's 10-17 May 1904, lot 916 (as Duke of Monmouth 'in the manner of Cooper but signed P.c.') , bt Gall, 71 gns, and sold to J Pierpont Morgan. Certainly at his sale, Christie's 24 June 1935, lot 25 (the entry copied from Williamson 1906-8), bt Spink, 735 gns, on behalf of Queen Mary who gave it to George V for the Royal Collection at Windsor; sold 1968 by private treaty with the Museum. ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Portrait Miniature, Portrait Miniature of an unknown man, perhaps Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 2nd Earl of Shaftesbury, in a gilt locket,  by Samuel Cooper, watercolour on vellum,ca. 1666-1670. Oval gilt copper locket with wire spirals, supplied by E J Shewry, 1968. ","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings Accessions 1968 </u> London: HMSO, 1969"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Murdoch, John.  <u>Seventeenth-century English Miniatures in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum</u>. London: The Stationery Office, 1997. "},{"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. The Portrait Miniature: A New History. 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":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"Portrait miniature of a man with long hair, turned to the right.","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Anthony Ashley Cooper (2nd Earl of Shaftesbury)","id":"N2689"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["P.66-1968"],"accessionNumberNum":"66","accessionNumberPrefix":"P","accessionYear":1968,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Frame"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-12-15","recordCreationDate":"2003-07-03","availableToBook":false}}