Keir Smith designed and made Fragments from the Origin of the Crown, a bronze sculpture, in 2000. This was chosen for inclusion in Close Encounters of the Art Kind, a collaborative project between artist and project initiator Colin Painter, the V&A Contemporary Programme, and six sculptors. The project involved the selection of six households which each housed the six sculptures, one at a time for a month each. The final product was an exhibition at the V&A, with the sculptures, photographs of them in the various host homes, and the thoughts of the artists and the sculptors exhibited alongside.

Smith's work often takes images from Italian Renaissance paintings, which he translates into three-dimensional pieces. The title of this work refers to the crown of thorns, worn by Christ on his way to His crucifixion; the sculpture itself takes the form of roses and lilies - the flowers usually associated with the Virgin Mary - but Smith has added thorns to the stems of the lilies as well as the rose. He has said that all his recent sculptures are religious works, part of a continuing tradition, and not intended to be ironic in any way. Asked about this piece, he concluded "My work is a meditation on death, and has been for as long as I can remember."