James Bisset (ca. 1762 – 17 August 1832) was a Scottish-born artist, manufacturer, writer, collector, art dealer and poet, who spent most of his life in and around Birmingham, England. Bisset was born in Perth, the son of a merchant who invested the Baltic flax trade but had fallen upon hard times. He was educated at Perth Academy until 1776 when he moved at the age of 13 to Birmingham, where his brother had established himself as a merchant. At the age of 15 Bisset obtained an apprenticeship with a Birmingham japanner, and by 1785 was listed in a local trade directory as a painter of miniatures. His invention of a method of painting on the inside of convex glasses enabled him to develop a successful business making ornamental goods and marry the daughter of a local landowner, and the earl