C. R. Ashbee

Alexander Fisher

Liberty & Co.

Tristan & Isolde buckle (SOLD)

ALEXANDER FISHER was almost solely responsible for the re-establishment of enamelwork as an important element of British Decorative Arts metal design.

Literature:-
The Studio from 1906 -1908
Alexander Fisher: Pioneer of Arts & Crafts Enamelling Stephen Pudney.
Arts & Crafts in Britain & America Isabelle Anscombe & Charlotte Gere.

WILLIAM MORRIS and EIRIKR MAGNUSSON were the first to translate the Icelandic epic Volsunga Saga into English. Morris was so enthused by it that he went on to create his own epic retelling of the story in Sigurd the Volsung and The Fall of the Niblungs which was published in 1876.

The maidens

When the young J. R. R. TOLKIEN
won the Skeat Prize for English in the Spring of 1914, he used the proceeds
to purchase editions of William Morris's books including his translation of the Volsunga Saga.

ALEXANDER FISHER (1864-1936)

In 1906, ALEXANDER FISHER wrote:
'...enamels should never be copies of anything in nature nor of any other processes of painting in art. They should be creations. They are for the representation and embodiment of thoughts, ideas, imaginings, and for those parts of a world which exists only in our minds.'

Joan of Arc enamel (SOLD)

_______________________________________________________

This important ALEXANDER FISHER Symbolist enamel depicts WILLIAM MORRIS'S epic poem

SIGURD THE VOLSUNG

--

See Enamels/Metal Item 9.(SOLD)

The quotation reproduced on the ALEXANDER FISHER enamel:-

'Wilt thou do the deed and repent it? thou hadst better never been born: Wilt thou do the deed and exalt it? then thy fame shall be outworn:
Thou shalt do the deed and abide it, and sit on thy throne on high,
And look on today and tomorrow as those that never die.'

is from the section of the epic poem by WILLIAM MORRIS where the hero, Sigurd, has slain Fafnir the Serpent on the Glittering Heath and thus obtained the Treasure of Andvari. Now, riding his horse Greyfell, he has found Brynhild asleep on the mountain Hindfell. Afterwards, under the influence of a potion Sigurd is unfaithful to Brynhild. She has him killed and herself dies on his funeral pyre.

The Volsunga Saga deeply influenced J. R. R. TOLKIEN'S writing. In particular, the sword that was reforged, rings of power, the dragon on the hoard, and the creature Gollum.