Finding the kaolin and refining it
Stained Glass Design
| Artist/Maker |
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 etching records part of 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. The design seen here belongs to the window representing Chinese ceramic production (see also 8099.4 and E.7169-1903). 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 | Finding the kaolin and refining it |
| Materials and techniques | Etching on paper |
| Brief description | Design, Ceramic Gallery, stained glass window (Chinese) for Victoria and Albert Museum, etching, William Bell Scott |
| Physical description | Etching on paper, after William Bell Scott’s design for the upper left light of one of the stained-glass windows in the Ceramic Gallery (now the Silver Gallery, Rooms 65-69). The light belongs to the window representing Chinese ceramic manufacture (see also 8099.4 and E.7169-1903). Populated by small figures and enclosed within a decorative border, it shows the finding of kaolin in the mountains (background) and refining of kaolin in circular vats (foreground). |
| Dimensions |
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| Place 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 etching records part of 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. The design seen here belongs to the window representing Chinese ceramic production (see also 8099.4 and E.7169-1903). 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 | E.7168-1903 |
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| Record created | June 30, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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