{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1107462"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1107462/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1107462","accessionNumber":"CIRC.537-1964","objectType":"Wood-Engraving Print","titles":[{"title":"A Wedder of Mr Culley's Breed","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"A sheep, viewed in profile, facing to the right of the image. To the right of the image, four other sheep can be seen in the distance. Thomas Bewick's monogram (a T and B sharing the same vertical stroke) is in the lower right corner of the image.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Bewick, Thomas","id":"A6564"},"association":{"text":"engravers (printmakers)","id":"AAT25165"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"laid paper","id":"AAT14184"},{"text":"printing ink","id":"AAT187371"}],"techniques":[{"text":"wood-engraving (process)","id":"AAT53303"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Wood-engraving print on laid paper","categories":[{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"},{"text":"Illustration","id":"THES48938"},{"text":"Animals and Wildlife","id":"THES250852"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLE","id":"THES49657"},"free":"","case":"Z","shelf":"2","box":"B"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"wood-engravings","id":"AAT41402"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Newcastle upon Tyne","id":"x29507"},"association":{"text":"printed and published","id":"x35383"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1790","earliest":"1790-01-01","latest":"1790-12-31"},"association":{"text":"first published","id":"x46563"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"12.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"16.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of sheet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured by DH 08/09/2010","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Thomas Bewick's monogram (a T and B sharing the same vertical stroke)","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"In the lower right corner of the image."}],"objectHistory":"Formerly C.8983, a list showing both new and old numbers in 64/2371\r\n\r\nThis engraving featured in Thomas Bewick's first major independent publication, <i>A General History of Quadrupeds</i>, first printed and published in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1790. The publication contains illustrations of animals, alongside brief descriptions of their appearance, habits and habitats, accompanied by a number of illustrative vignettes, used mainly as tailpieces.\r\n\r\nBewick produced his engraving after a drawing by a Mr Bailey: \r\n'<i>The drawing, from which the preceeding cut was taken, was made by Mr Bailey, of Chillingham, soon after the Sheep had been shorn.</i>'\r\n\r\nThe description of the sheep was supported by exact measurements and visual details of one of Mr Culley's sheep as it was butchered: \r\n'<i>We are favoured by, Mr Culley, with the following account of a Wedder of his breed, fed at Fenton in Northumberland, and killed at Alnwick in October 1787, when four years old:</i> \r\n\r\nIt was noted that: \r\n'<i>The proprietor of this Sheep laments, that he had not the offals exactly weighed … because it is now well known, that this breed of Sheep has a greater quantity of mutton, in proportion to the offal, than any other kind we know of, and is consequently cheaper to the consumer.</i>' \r\n\r\nQuotes taken from: Beilby, Ralph and Bewick, Thomas. <u>A General History of Quadrupeds</u>. Newcastle upon Tyne. Third Edition, 1792.\n\nHistorical significance: Thomas Bewick was the first engraver to exploit fully the advantages of end-grain wood (the wood is cut across, rather than along, the grain). Once it had been proved that the technique could rival the fine effects of metal engraving, the advantages of wood engraving to the book trade were quickly recognised. Allowing both text and illustration to be printed in one operation, it ousted the intaglio process as the favourite for book illustration and was only superseded at the end of the nineteenth century when methods of photomechanical reproduction were developed.","historicalContext":"'Wedder' is the Northumbrian dialect form of the word 'wether', meaning a castrated sheep.","briefDescription":"'A Wedder of Mr Culley's Breed'. A sheep, viewed in profile, facing to the right of the image. Wood-engraving print on laid paper. Illustration featured in 'A General History of Quadrupeds' (first published 1790). Engraved by Thomas Bewick. Newcastle upon Tyne, England.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Taken from Departmental Circulation Register 1964"}],"production":"Thomas Bewick's <i>A General History of Quadrupeds</i> was first published in 1790.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Beilby, Ralph","id":"AUTH400873"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"sheep","id":"x30093"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["CIRC.537-1964"],"accessionNumberNum":"537","accessionNumberPrefix":"CIRC","accessionYear":1964,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2009-07-01","availableToBook":false}}