Picnic Hamper
ca. 1900 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
1. A wooden box covered on the outside with dark red paper and on the inside with cream paper. The inside of the lid is lined with cream card which is nailed on. There is a hessian hinge and two hook and eye fastenings. The card on the inside of the lid is laced with elastic to hold the various pieces of equipment.
As decoration on the lid outside is a chromolithographed print of a woman holding a tambourine and four children dancing. This is taken from a painting, The Gower Family: The Children of Granville, 2nd Earl Gower by George Romney. Around the print is a strip of gold paper braid.
Inside the box, the base is marked out with cream card to divide it into six compartments. Above this are supports to hold a lift out tray. In each of the compartment is a paper plate with plaster food.
Food plates. The plates are round with a sloping crimped edge and a glazed top surface. The food is made of plaster and painted.
2. Roast of beef
3. Asparagus
4. Fish and lemon slices (possibly sole or plaice)
5. Cheese and crackers (stilton)
6. Eggs on toast
7. Salad, tomatoes, eggs, beetroot and lettuce
8. Lift out tray, made of cream card with wooden supports at the corners; divided into six compartments to hold the paper plates. Across the top is a pleated dark red ribbon tied in a bow to lift the tray out of the box.
Plates bearing the following:
9. Meat pie in an oval white dish
10. Braided bread loaf and four rolls
11. Oysters and lemon slices
12. Red berry pie, on paper doilies
13. Fresh fruit, grapes and apples on green leaves
14. Round cake, pink, and cake fingers, pink and cream
Equipment attached to the inside of the lid:
15-18. Paper plates; these are the same design as the food plates but slightly smaller in diameter; top surface glazed
19-22. Damask napkins, fringed and folded into triangles
23-26. Glass beakers
27-30. Metal spoons
31-34. Metal forks
35-38. Metal knives
Three beakers and the knives and forks are wrapped in a soft white bonded paper. It is thought that this covering was not original and possibly added to fill out the area as the elastic began to perish and stretch.
As decoration on the lid outside is a chromolithographed print of a woman holding a tambourine and four children dancing. This is taken from a painting, The Gower Family: The Children of Granville, 2nd Earl Gower by George Romney. Around the print is a strip of gold paper braid.
Inside the box, the base is marked out with cream card to divide it into six compartments. Above this are supports to hold a lift out tray. In each of the compartment is a paper plate with plaster food.
Food plates. The plates are round with a sloping crimped edge and a glazed top surface. The food is made of plaster and painted.
2. Roast of beef
3. Asparagus
4. Fish and lemon slices (possibly sole or plaice)
5. Cheese and crackers (stilton)
6. Eggs on toast
7. Salad, tomatoes, eggs, beetroot and lettuce
8. Lift out tray, made of cream card with wooden supports at the corners; divided into six compartments to hold the paper plates. Across the top is a pleated dark red ribbon tied in a bow to lift the tray out of the box.
Plates bearing the following:
9. Meat pie in an oval white dish
10. Braided bread loaf and four rolls
11. Oysters and lemon slices
12. Red berry pie, on paper doilies
13. Fresh fruit, grapes and apples on green leaves
14. Round cake, pink, and cake fingers, pink and cream
Equipment attached to the inside of the lid:
15-18. Paper plates; these are the same design as the food plates but slightly smaller in diameter; top surface glazed
19-22. Damask napkins, fringed and folded into triangles
23-26. Glass beakers
27-30. Metal spoons
31-34. Metal forks
35-38. Metal knives
Three beakers and the knives and forks are wrapped in a soft white bonded paper. It is thought that this covering was not original and possibly added to fill out the area as the elastic began to perish and stretch.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 38 parts.
|
| Materials and techniques | wood, cardboard, plaster and paper |
| Brief description | Doll's picnic hamper, german; about 1900 |
| Physical description | 1. A wooden box covered on the outside with dark red paper and on the inside with cream paper. The inside of the lid is lined with cream card which is nailed on. There is a hessian hinge and two hook and eye fastenings. The card on the inside of the lid is laced with elastic to hold the various pieces of equipment. As decoration on the lid outside is a chromolithographed print of a woman holding a tambourine and four children dancing. This is taken from a painting, The Gower Family: The Children of Granville, 2nd Earl Gower by George Romney. Around the print is a strip of gold paper braid. Inside the box, the base is marked out with cream card to divide it into six compartments. Above this are supports to hold a lift out tray. In each of the compartment is a paper plate with plaster food. Food plates. The plates are round with a sloping crimped edge and a glazed top surface. The food is made of plaster and painted. 2. Roast of beef 3. Asparagus 4. Fish and lemon slices (possibly sole or plaice) 5. Cheese and crackers (stilton) 6. Eggs on toast 7. Salad, tomatoes, eggs, beetroot and lettuce 8. Lift out tray, made of cream card with wooden supports at the corners; divided into six compartments to hold the paper plates. Across the top is a pleated dark red ribbon tied in a bow to lift the tray out of the box. Plates bearing the following: 9. Meat pie in an oval white dish 10. Braided bread loaf and four rolls 11. Oysters and lemon slices 12. Red berry pie, on paper doilies 13. Fresh fruit, grapes and apples on green leaves 14. Round cake, pink, and cake fingers, pink and cream Equipment attached to the inside of the lid: 15-18. Paper plates; these are the same design as the food plates but slightly smaller in diameter; top surface glazed 19-22. Damask napkins, fringed and folded into triangles 23-26. Glass beakers 27-30. Metal spoons 31-34. Metal forks 35-38. Metal knives Three beakers and the knives and forks are wrapped in a soft white bonded paper. It is thought that this covering was not original and possibly added to fill out the area as the elastic began to perish and stretch. |
| Dimensions | Height: 4½in Width 2: 12in Depth: 9in |
| Object history | Purchased in 1996. No details are known about this object. However, at the end of the 19th century and early 20th century picnics became very fashionable. The best description of plaster food was written by Beatrix Potter in the Two Bad Mice, 1904. |
| Production | The lid illustration is a print of The Gower Family: The Children of Granville, 2nd Earl Gower, painted by George Romney (1734-1802), held at Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal, Cumbria. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | B.57:1 to 38-1996 |
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| Record created | April 18, 2000 |
| Record URL |
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