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Mistress Mary

Wallpaper
1903 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Design for a wallpaper frieze, 'Mistress Mary', based on the popular English nursery rhyme 'Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary'; The design depicts a woman with a watering can, standing infront of a hedge and flower bed lined with cockle shells, flanked eitherside by sculpted trees; Lettered above the image; Mistress Mary quite contrary How does your garden grow? With silver bells & cockleshells And pretty maids all of a row; Watercolour on paper.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleMistress Mary (manufacturer's title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour on paper
Brief description
Design for a wallpaper frieze, 'Mistress Mary', based on the popular English nursery rhyme 'Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary'; The design depicts a woman with a watering can, standing infront of a hedge and flower bed lined with cockle shells, flanked eitherside by sculpted trees; Designed by Walter Crane; Watercolour on paper; England; 1903.
Physical description
Design for a wallpaper frieze, 'Mistress Mary', based on the popular English nursery rhyme 'Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary'; The design depicts a woman with a watering can, standing infront of a hedge and flower bed lined with cockle shells, flanked eitherside by sculpted trees; Lettered above the image; Mistress Mary quite contrary How does your garden grow? With silver bells & cockleshells And pretty maids all of a row; Watercolour on paper.
Dimensions
  • Height: 54cm
  • Width: 76.8cm
Dimensions from: 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.
Style
Production typeDesign
Marks and inscriptions
  • Misstress Mary quite contrary / How does your garden grow? / With silver bells & cockleshells / And pretty maids all of a row (Lettered as part of design.)
  • 1903 (Dated.)
Production
Dated 1903.
Subjects depicted
Literary referenceBased on the popular English nursery rhyme 'Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary'. The rhyme was first printed in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book (c. 1744). There are a number of versions of the rhyme and its origins and meaning are disputed.
Associated objects
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
E.2329-1920

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Record createdApril 17, 2009
Record URL
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