The Yeomen of the Guard souvenir plate
Plate
ca.1980 (made)
ca.1980 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This plate is one of a limited edition of 25,000 made by Caverswall China Limited, a company based in Stoke-on-Trent that produced bone china since its inception in 1973. Caverswall English China was granted its first Royal Warrant as a Fine Bone China Manufacturer by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2008. Halcyon Days acquired the company as a sister brand in 2015.
The designs are the artist's idea of scenes and characters froms from The Yeomen of the Guard by Gilbert and Sullivan and are not related to any production. The Yeomen of the Guard first appeared at the Savoy Theatre on the 3rd October 1888, produced by Richard D'Oyly Carte. Characters shown on the plate include the jester Jack Point, Phoebe Merryl, Colonel Fairfax, Leonard Merryl and Wilfred Shadbolt.
The Yeomen of the Guard was the eleventh of Gilbert and Sullivan's fourteen comic operas. Gilbert claimed that the idea for the opera came to him from a poster he saw advertising The Tower Furnishing and Finance Company, illustrated with an image of a Yeoman Warder of the Tower of London,or 'Beefeater'. Sullivan liked the plot far more than many of Gilbert's previous ones since he felt it gave him the chance to write his most ambitious score to date for one of their collaborations.
The designs are the artist's idea of scenes and characters froms from The Yeomen of the Guard by Gilbert and Sullivan and are not related to any production. The Yeomen of the Guard first appeared at the Savoy Theatre on the 3rd October 1888, produced by Richard D'Oyly Carte. Characters shown on the plate include the jester Jack Point, Phoebe Merryl, Colonel Fairfax, Leonard Merryl and Wilfred Shadbolt.
The Yeomen of the Guard was the eleventh of Gilbert and Sullivan's fourteen comic operas. Gilbert claimed that the idea for the opera came to him from a poster he saw advertising The Tower Furnishing and Finance Company, illustrated with an image of a Yeoman Warder of the Tower of London,or 'Beefeater'. Sullivan liked the plot far more than many of Gilbert's previous ones since he felt it gave him the chance to write his most ambitious score to date for one of their collaborations.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | The Yeomen of the Guard souvenir plate (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | |
| Brief description | Souvenir plate decorated with scenes from The Yeomen of the Guard by Gilbert & Sullivan. Bone china decorated with a pattern by Ian Fowler, made by Caverswall China Co. Ltd., number 364 in a limited edition of 25,000 |
| Physical description | Bone china plate decorated with five scenes from Gilbert & Sullivan's The Yeomen of the Guard, one in the centre showing the Yeomen at the Tower of London with the headsman about to behead Colonel Fairfax for sorcery, and four images around the rim entitled: 'When a jester is outwitted feelings fester'; 'And so good fellow, you are a jester?'; 'Now to get the keys from him', and: 'Mistress Merryll! Eh! Oh! It is you is it?', as well as two motifs of the electric light sconces in the original Savoy Theatre, a comedy mask in a lyre with the initials G&A, and the name of the opera with the embem of the Yeomen of the Guard and a Yeoman's hat and a headsman's chopping block. Text printed on the reverse noted the name of the opera the plate respresents, when it was first performed, the manufacturer, and details of the limited edition of 25,000 of which this is number 364. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Limited edition |
| Credit line | Bequeathed by Peter Parker |
| Object history | This plate would have been acquired by Peter Parker, who bequeathed to the museum, for his D'Oyly Carte collection that augmented the collection he inherited from his father Stanley Parker who was employed by the Savoy Hotel as a junior clerk in May 1909, straight from school. From that job, on the death of Helen D'Oyly Carte in 1913, he was chosen by Rupert D'Oyly Carte to understudy Mr George A. Richardson who managed the theatre from November 1911 to February 1915. In 1913 Stanley Parker became Rupert D'Oyly Carte's private scretary, and later Bridget D'Oyly Carte's private secretary, also secretary of both the Savoy Theatre Ltd., and the Opera Company. He worked for the company until his death in 1960. Peter Parker, who died in 2018, continued his father's lifelong interest in the D'Oyly Carte family and the D'Oyly Carte and became president of the London Gilbert & Sullivan Society and a committee member of the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Sussex. |
| Production | This was produced in a limited edition of 25,000 of which this is number 364. It was one of a set of three limited edition plates decorated with scenes from Gilbert & Sullivan operas, the others of The Mikado and The Pirates of Penzance. |
| Summary | This plate is one of a limited edition of 25,000 made by Caverswall China Limited, a company based in Stoke-on-Trent that produced bone china since its inception in 1973. Caverswall English China was granted its first Royal Warrant as a Fine Bone China Manufacturer by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2008. Halcyon Days acquired the company as a sister brand in 2015. The designs are the artist's idea of scenes and characters froms from The Yeomen of the Guard by Gilbert and Sullivan and are not related to any production. The Yeomen of the Guard first appeared at the Savoy Theatre on the 3rd October 1888, produced by Richard D'Oyly Carte. Characters shown on the plate include the jester Jack Point, Phoebe Merryl, Colonel Fairfax, Leonard Merryl and Wilfred Shadbolt. The Yeomen of the Guard was the eleventh of Gilbert and Sullivan's fourteen comic operas. Gilbert claimed that the idea for the opera came to him from a poster he saw advertising The Tower Furnishing and Finance Company, illustrated with an image of a Yeoman Warder of the Tower of London,or 'Beefeater'. Sullivan liked the plot far more than many of Gilbert's previous ones since he felt it gave him the chance to write his most ambitious score to date for one of their collaborations. |
| Associated objects |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.1079-2021 |
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| Record created | September 15, 2020 |
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