James Cromar Watt

A contemporary of the English artist-enameller, Alexander Fisher, James Cromar Watt of Aberdeen trained as an architect. He devoted most of his time to furthering his wide-ranging collection of foreign decorative arts, including Chinese lacquer, ceramics and carvings, Italian glass and oriental metalwork. Following his death in 1940 much of this collection was left to Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums. His other passion was rare plants, which he collected and cultivated in his garden.

He began working with enamels and jewellery in the 1890s, drawing inspiration from flowers, birds and wild creatures. He made several enamelled brooches, necklaces, pendants and plaques for private clients over the next thirty years until failing eyesight forced him to give up. The University of Aberdeen granted him an honorary LLD in 1931 in recognition of his services to the Arts in Aberdeen.

Watt experimented with a variety of enamelling techniques, including the use of paillons, or metal fragments, and the grisaille technique. The latter allowed him to achieve the flesh-like qualities seen in his portrait enamels. Watt often combined this with another method of enamelling, that of building up layers of translucent colour enriched with a little oil or water, applied and fired individually in layers to build up the desired effect. Watt frequently combined enamels with semi-precious stones in his complex festooned necklaces and pendants.