Alexander Fisher
Badge in honor of the Sheffield Society of Artists1903

On view:

Geffen Galleries, floor 1

Rectangular metal and enamel plaque with a standing female figure in russet drapery, a peacock, heraldic shields, and the Latin inscription 'ARS OMNIVM LINGVA'

Silver metal plaque with gilt border and shaped cartouche outline, engraved with the text 'Sheffield Society of Artists, Instituted 1874' and a list of Presidents' names, with small loop handles at the top corners.

Artist or Maker: Alexander Fisher
England, 1864-1936
Title: Badge in honor of the Sheffield Society of Artists
Date Made: 1903
Medium: Enamel on gilded copper, silver
Dimensions: 3 5/8 × 2 1/2 × 1/4 in. (9.21 × 6.3 × 0.64 cm)
Credit Line: Decorative Arts and Design Council Fund
Accession Number: M.2016.136
Classification: Jewelry and Adornments
Collecting Area: Decorative Arts and Design
Curatorial Notes: A distinguished metalworker and teacher, Alexander Fisher played a central role in the early twentieth-century revival of enamelwork in Britain. He enthusiastically took up the medium after attending a series of lectures on enameling by French craftsman M. Louis Dalpayrat. Fisher would go on to write extensively on the subject and train many of Britain’s leading practitioners.

This enamel badge (or pendant) was commissioned in honor of the Sheffield Society of Artists’ reorganization in 1903. The well-documented design was illustrated twice in Britain’s most prestigious art journal, The Studio, first as a drawing and then as executed. In a 1904 profile on Fisher for The Studio, T. Martin Wood described the badge’s imagery of “white roses for York and a peacock for beauty; the recent birth of the society is represented by the edge of the Sun appearing to rise above the design.” In addition to this iconography, Fisher deftly incorporated the Sheffield coat of arms as well as the art society’s insignia and motto, “Ars Omnium Lingua” (art of all language). His use of gilded copper here is a fitting celebration of an artists’ group in Sheffield, a city known for its manufacture of plated metalwork.

Abbey Chamberlain Brach

2016

Alexander Fisher
Badge in honor of the Sheffield Society of Artists1903

On view:

Geffen Galleries, floor 1

Artist or Maker: Alexander Fisher
England, 1864-1936
Title: Badge in honor of the Sheffield Society of Artists
Date Made: 1903
Medium: Enamel on gilded copper, silver
Dimensions: 3 5/8 × 2 1/2 × 1/4 in. (9.21 × 6.3 × 0.64 cm)
Credit Line: Decorative Arts and Design Council Fund
Accession Number: M.2016.136
Classification: Jewelry and Adornments
Collecting Area: Decorative Arts and Design
Curatorial Notes: A distinguished metalworker and teacher, Alexander Fisher played a central role in the early twentieth-century revival of enamelwork in Britain. He enthusiastically took up the medium after attending a series of lectures on enameling by French craftsman M. Louis Dalpayrat. Fisher would go on to write extensively on the subject and train many of Britain’s leading practitioners.

This enamel badge (or pendant) was commissioned in honor of the Sheffield Society of Artists’ reorganization in 1903. The well-documented design was illustrated twice in Britain’s most prestigious art journal, The Studio, first as a drawing and then as executed. In a 1904 profile on Fisher for The Studio, T. Martin Wood described the badge’s imagery of “white roses for York and a peacock for beauty; the recent birth of the society is represented by the edge of the Sun appearing to rise above the design.” In addition to this iconography, Fisher deftly incorporated the Sheffield coat of arms as well as the art society’s insignia and motto, “Ars Omnium Lingua” (art of all language). His use of gilded copper here is a fitting celebration of an artists’ group in Sheffield, a city known for its manufacture of plated metalwork.

Abbey Chamberlain Brach

2016