The Wagner Girdle

Alexander Fisher designed and produced the Wagner Girdle between 1893 and 1896. It is made of steel set with stones and enamel plaques. The plaques show scenes from Wagner's operas. From left to right they are the death of Tristan, Lohengrin, Siegmund and Siegelinde, the Rhine Maidens, Fafner, Tannhauser, Tristan and Isolde with the love potion.
Fisher was an enameller and teacher who specialised in painted enamel. He revived this type of enamelling after attending lectures given in London in the mid-1880s by Louis Dalpayrat of the Sèvres porcelain factory. He developed his enamelling techniques as a student in Paris. Here he experimented by using layers of different translucent colours, highlighted with glinting strips of metal foil beneath the surface. His work became known in London through the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society and through his teaching.