Alexander Fisher was the leading revivalist of enameling in the British Arts & Crafts movement. He almost single handedly reestablished the lost, Medieval art of enameling, and taught the medium to a small coterie of students at the Slade School of Art. Fisher published an instructional manual on enameling in 1906 that laid out his accumulated knowledge, based on meticulous research and experimentation with the mysterious alchemy of firing glass and metal.

The subject of this exquisite example of Fisher’s accomplishments was inspired by a story written by novelist and poet George Meredith as part of a series of faux Oriental tales, entitled The Shaving of Shagpat, An Arabian Entertainment, first published in 1856. Bhanavar, the unsuspecting daughter of a Caucasian emir, is transformed into an evil queen of the serpents through the power of a magical jewel. In Fisher’s rendition, Bhanavar is captured at the moment when she is marveling at the jewel, which she holds in one hand, before her monstrous transformation occurred. Fisher’s mastery of his medium is evident in the pearlescent hues of the enameled plaque, as well as in the intricate art-nouveau, stylized frame. The metalwork of the frame cleverly houses the magical jewel of Meredith’s tale at the top and is decorated with the snake-like forms that foreshadow Bhanavar’s tragic fate.