Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level D , Case DR, Shelf 101

Medieval shipping

Design (Visual Work)
1868 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Blue and white roundel design for tiles. A medieval warship armed with cannon dominates the composition, port-bow view. It lies at anchor, sails furled and pennants fluttering. A few people can be seen on board, including one figure in the crow's nest. Two other similar ships are visible, port-bow view: one to the far left, only partially accommodated in the composition; one sailing on the distant open water. In the foreground, an armed man overlooks the scene from a battlement defended with cannon. A blue border encloses the composition.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleMedieval shipping (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Brief description
Dado tile design by E. J. Poynter for the Grill Room, South Kensington Museum: 1 of 11 land and seascape subjects. About 1868.
Physical description
Blue and white roundel design for tiles. A medieval warship armed with cannon dominates the composition, port-bow view. It lies at anchor, sails furled and pennants fluttering. A few people can be seen on board, including one figure in the crow's nest. Two other similar ships are visible, port-bow view: one to the far left, only partially accommodated in the composition; one sailing on the distant open water. In the foreground, an armed man overlooks the scene from a battlement defended with cannon. A blue border encloses the composition.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 19.7cm
Style
Object history
Edward John Poynter was invited to tender for the decoration of the Grill Room in November 1865. He signed many of his dado tile designs for the Grill Room with his monogram and the date 1868. Although this particular example does not appear to bear any such information, it was probably made at around the same time. Indeed, judging from the Seventeenth Report of the Science and Art Department, the Grill Room's dado tiles were all installed by the end of 1869 at the latest.
Subjects depicted
Associations
Bibliographic references
  • p. 455 Seventeenth Report of the Science and Art Department. London: printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1870
  • Physick, John. The Victoria and Albert Museum: The History of Its Building. London: The Victoria & Albert Museum, 1982 pp. 139-141; figs. 153-156; pls. XXVII-XXIX
  • p. 111 and pl. 15 Sheppard, F. H. W. (general ed.). Survey of London, vol. XXXVIII: The Museums Area of South Kensington and Westminster. London: Athlone Press, University of London, 1975
Collection
Accession number
1121:7

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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