Chinese
Stained Glass Design
ca. 1870 (made)
ca. 1870 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
As carried out during the late 1860s and 1870s, the interior of the Lecture Theatre block of the Victoria and Albert Museum - containing the Lecture Theatre, Ceramic Gallery (now the Silver Gallery, Rooms 65-69) and refreshment rooms - was elaborately decorated. This pen and ink drawing comprises one of William Bell Scott’s designs for the fourteen stained-glass windows in the Ceramic Gallery. Henry Cole, the first director of the Museum, was responsible for the theme. Mirroring the arrangement of ceramic items within the gallery, the stained-glass windows depicted historical periods of ceramic manufacture: this design is labelled 'Chinese, &c'. Scott executed the designs by painting onto glass panes with a brush, keeping the windows virtually free of colour (yellow being the only stain used) so as not to darken the gallery. Scott also designed two stained-glass windows for the landings of the two staircases leading up from the Ceramic Gallery to the Lecture Theatre.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Chinese |
| Materials and techniques | Pen and ink with watercolour on paper |
| Brief description | Design for Victoria and Albert Museum by William Bell Scott, Ceramic Gallery, stained glass window (Chinese), about 1870 |
| Physical description | Small-scale pen and ink drawing with yellow watercolour on paper. Divided into four rectangular lights, with a semi-circular light above, this design for a stained-glass window in the Ceramic Gallery (now the Silver Gallery, Rooms 65-69) is labelled '2nd window / Chinese &c'. Viewed from a bird’s-eye perspective, the upper pair of lights depict ceramics being made and sold by robed, seated figures; there are banners with Chinese characters. The decoration of the lower pair of lights comprises dragons seen against peony-like flowers and foliage. The semi-circular light at the top of the window is left blank. Drawn to a larger scale, to the side is a detail of the geometric pattern to be used as a border. Annotated; some measurements; initialled ‘W. B. S.’. |
| Dimensions |
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| Places depicted | |
| Summary | As carried out during the late 1860s and 1870s, the interior of the Lecture Theatre block of the Victoria and Albert Museum - containing the Lecture Theatre, Ceramic Gallery (now the Silver Gallery, Rooms 65-69) and refreshment rooms - was elaborately decorated. This pen and ink drawing comprises one of William Bell Scott’s designs for the fourteen stained-glass windows in the Ceramic Gallery. Henry Cole, the first director of the Museum, was responsible for the theme. Mirroring the arrangement of ceramic items within the gallery, the stained-glass windows depicted historical periods of ceramic manufacture: this design is labelled 'Chinese, &c'. Scott executed the designs by painting onto glass panes with a brush, keeping the windows virtually free of colour (yellow being the only stain used) so as not to darken the gallery. Scott also designed two stained-glass windows for the landings of the two staircases leading up from the Ceramic Gallery to the Lecture Theatre. |
| Associated objects | |
| Bibliographic reference | Physick, John. The Victoria and Albert Museum: The History of Its Building. London: The Victoria & Albert Museum, 1982.
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | 8099:2 |
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| Record created | June 30, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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