Model Cannon thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Model Cannon

19th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This cast is from the same design as a plaster cannon (also in the Museum's collections, inv.no. A.51-1911) designed by Stevens for the son of his friend Alfred Pegler, but certain small differences between the plaster and the wax suggest the plaster was not in fact cast from the wax, or that the plaster version was possibly re-worked subsequently.
Stevens designed the cannon for Pegler who wrote to Stannus in 1890: ' The Master designed it for me, long before I had a son or was even married. Years after he promised to finish it for my son...It was made of box wood...the artistic work laid on in plaster of Paris'. The version made for Pegler's son was cast in brass by Hoole and Company in ca. 1865.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Model in wax on turned wood
Brief description
Model for cannon, wax on wood, by Alfred Stevens, English, ca. 1865
Physical description
Turned boxwood, fluted, with applied decoration in wax. On the breech is a group representing a lion and a winged dragon struggling; above the trunnions, which end in bull-dog's heads, is a figure of Mars in armour, seated amidst foliage. The barrel is decorated with two bands of ornament in low relief, one bearing the initials AP, AS, in square frames. The other a coat of arms and crest surmounted by a scroll, and oval medallions. The muzzle terminates in acanthus foliage with a moulding of egg-and-tongue ornament.
Dimensions
  • Length: 52.1cm
  • Widest width: 7.62cm
Object history
Purchased from Mrs Ada Gamble, 12 Stanlake Villas, Shepherd's Bush.
Historical context
Stevens designed the cannon for Pegler who wrote to Stannus in 1890: ' The Master designed it for me, long before I had a son or was even married. Years after he promised to finish it for my son...It was made of box wood...the artistic work laid on in plaster of Paris'. The version made for Pegler's son was cast in brass by Hoole and Company in ca. 1865.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This cast is from the same design as a plaster cannon (also in the Museum's collections, inv.no. A.51-1911) designed by Stevens for the son of his friend Alfred Pegler, but certain small differences between the plaster and the wax suggest the plaster was not in fact cast from the wax, or that the plaster version was possibly re-worked subsequently.
Stevens designed the cannon for Pegler who wrote to Stannus in 1890: ' The Master designed it for me, long before I had a son or was even married. Years after he promised to finish it for my son...It was made of box wood...the artistic work laid on in plaster of Paris'. The version made for Pegler's son was cast in brass by Hoole and Company in ca. 1865.
Bibliographic reference
Stannus, H. Alfred Stevens and his Work, London, 1891, pp. 26-27
Collection
Accession number
A.79-1911

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
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