PANews reported on May 15 that according to Decrypt, the British Museum has collaborated with Asprey Studio to reinterpret the 1515 masterpiece "Rhinoceros" by German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer into 11 sterling silver sculptures. Each sculpture will be sold with a digital inscription on the Bitcoin blockchain, using inscription technology to ensure the traceability of the source of the work. Ali Walker, chief creative officer of Asprey Studio, said that buyers will first receive a digital inscription certificate, and the sterling silver sculpture will take several months to customize. The production process of the 40-centimeter-high solid silver sculpture is complicated, and the digital model must be split and then welded into shape. Only a few craftsmen in the UK can complete this process.
As a pioneer of the German Renaissance, Dürer had never seen a real rhino when he created his "Rhinoceros" print, and he only completed it based on a text description. Walker believes that if Dürer were alive, he would be very adaptable to the digital ownership confirmation method in the modern art circle. The British Museum has previously issued NFTs of artists such as Hokusai Katsushika through LaCollection, and has cooperated with The Sandbox to develop a metaverse experience. The digital inscription in this collaboration is not to NFT the original work, but to create a blockchain certificate for the silver sculpture. The original sketch is still collected by the British Museum.
