Wallpaper
ca. 1900 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Children's wallpaper for use in the nursery became popular from the 1880's onwards. Not many examples are left as they were regularly replaced as they become worn or dirty with in a nursery setting. It was also common for these wallpapers to be varnished etc to help protect them and make them washable. Some of the better examples of these wallpapers are found in the Museum's dolls house collection within their nurseries, in miniature form.
The earlier designs of wallpaper often were not only decorative but also have moral or educational elements that were deemed appropriate for the nursery. Many such as this one were adapted from popular children's literature of the time.
The earlier designs of wallpaper often were not only decorative but also have moral or educational elements that were deemed appropriate for the nursery. Many such as this one were adapted from popular children's literature of the time.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Colour machine print, on paper |
| Brief description | Portion of a nursery wallpaper with a design adapted, by J. C. Cockshut, from Randolph Caldecott's 'Nursery Books'; Colour machine print, on paper; Produced by Allan, Cockshut & Co.; England; ca.1900. |
| Physical description | Portion of a nursery wallpaper with scenes adapted from Randolph Caldecott's Nursery Books; Colour machine print, on paper. The scenes are of a hunting party on horseback, wearing red hunting jackets, and a pack of hunting dogs, as they travel through the rural country side it depicts scenes and lines from children's nursery rhymes such as Baby Bunting Daddy's gone a hunting, Where are you going to my pretty maid, and When I was a farmers boy, each are shown with an image repetitively forming a pattern. |
| Dimensions |
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| Object history | The new example was donated to the museum by the donor who has vivid memories of it being on the walls of her nursery as a child in the 1930s. The family home was Chilvester Hill House in Wiltshire, and the nursery was shared by five siblings, Ronald, Rosemary, Robin, Ruth and Richard born between 1924 and 1936. "We had a wooden rocking horse and I imagined I was riding through the landscape and scenes of eighteenth century England". |
| Production | J. C. Cockshut adapted the design from Randolph Caldecott's Nursery Books. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Literary reference | Randolph Caldecott's 'Nursery Books'. |
| Summary | Children's wallpaper for use in the nursery became popular from the 1880's onwards. Not many examples are left as they were regularly replaced as they become worn or dirty with in a nursery setting. It was also common for these wallpapers to be varnished etc to help protect them and make them washable. Some of the better examples of these wallpapers are found in the Museum's dolls house collection within their nurseries, in miniature form. The earlier designs of wallpaper often were not only decorative but also have moral or educational elements that were deemed appropriate for the nursery. Many such as this one were adapted from popular children's literature of the time. |
| Associated objects |
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| Bibliographic reference | Oman, Charles C., and Hamilton, Jean. Wallpapers: a history and illustrated catalogue of the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: Sotheby Publications, in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1982. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | B.268-2011 |
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| Record created | July 10, 2012 |
| Record URL |
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