{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1257504"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1257504/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019ME0753/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019ME0753/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2019ME0753","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London / courtesy of Frederick Warne & Co. ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JE6343","copyright":"© Frederick Warne & Co.","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1257504","accessionNumber":"BP.1097III","objectType":"drawing","titles":[{"title":"Mice sewing by candlelight","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) is one of the world's best-loved children's authors and illustrators.  She wrote  the majority of the twenty-three Original Peter Rabbit Books between 1901 and 1913.  The Tale of Peter  Rabbit (Frederick Warne, 1902) is her most famous and best-loved tale.  \r\n\r\nA published author with an astute business sense, Potter began designing merchandise to accompany The Tale of Peter Rabbit within a year of its publication. In December 1903 she began making a Peter Rabbit doll  for the niece of her publisher, Norman Warne: 'the expression is going to be lovely; especially the whiskers -  (pulled out of a brush!)'.  She patented the doll on 28 December 1903 and went on to design a Peter Rabbit  board game, painting books, handkerchiefs, stationery, wallpaper, a nursery frieze, figurines, slippers,  calendars, tea-sets, jigsaw puzzles, and so on.  Never short of ideas, Potter pursued an interest in  merchandise long after she had ceased to write and illustrate children's books.  She maintained a careful control over all product designs, insisting in particular that any reproduction of her characters should be  faithful to her original drawings and to the true nature and likeness of animals.  \r\n\r\nBeatrix based her first painting book, Peter Rabbit's Painting Book, on one that she had made some years earlier  as a present for Louie Warne, the daughter of Harold Warne.  In the published book, Peter Rabbit is joined by other characters, including Jemima Puddle-duck, Mrs. Tiggy-winkle, Squirrel Nutkin and Tom Kitten. Beatrix warns children, ‘Don’t  put the Brush in your mouth.  If you do, you will be ill, like Peter’.  \r\n\r\nRecognising that ‘several children want to paint at once’ and ‘pin up their productions’, Beatrix also proposed issuing  unbound pages from the painting book in an envelope at a cheaper price - ‘for the little artist to colour as separate pictures’.   Warne published the individual pages together with the painting book in October 1911. Following the success of Peter  Rabbit's Painting Book, Potter also produced Tom Kitten's Painting Book in 1917 and Jemima Puddle-duck's  Painting Book in 1925.  \r\n\r\nThis drawing of mice sewing was produced for a painting book but never published. A watercolour version of the illustration appears in The Tailor of Gloucester on page 42 of the 2002 edition.\r\n ","physicalDescription":"Six mice sit on a table sewing by candlelight whilst three other mice climb up towards the table top (one unfinished). ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Potter, Beatrix","id":"A18000"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"paper (fiber product)","id":"AAT14109"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing","id":"x32498"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pen and ink and pencil on paper.","categories":[{"text":"Books","id":"THES48986"},{"text":"Illustration","id":"THES48938"},{"text":"Animals and Wildlife","id":"THES250852"},{"text":"Anthropomorphism","id":"THES252998"},{"text":"Children & Childhood","id":"THES48980"},{"text":"Drawings","id":"THES48966"},{"text":"Woman Artist","id":"THES387590"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2019ME0753","2016JE6343"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"008","id":"THES317970"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"drawing","id":"x32498"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1911-1925","earliest":"1906-01-01","latest":"1925-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number]","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"36.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"29.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Drawn by Beatrix Potter ca. 1911-1925 when preparing drawings for her painting books. Acquired by the V&A from Leslie Linder (1904-1973) in 1973 as part of the Linder Bequest, a collection of ca. 2150 watercolours, drawings, literary manuscripts, correspondence, books, photographs, and other memorabilia associated with Beatrix Potter and her family.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Drawing of mice sewing by candlelight by Beatrix Potter, ca. 1911-1925; unpublished design from The Tailor of Gloucester (1903) for a painting book; Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.1908.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"'Hobbs and Whalley, Beatrix Potter : the V&A Collection, London, 1985'","id":"AUTH315806"},"details":"Brief catalogue entry, p. 204","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"mice","id":"AAT168291"},{"text":"candlestick","id":"AAT37588"},{"text":"table","id":"x31811"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["BP.1097(III)"],"accessionNumberNum":"1097","accessionNumberPrefix":"BP","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Linder Bequest catalogue no.","id":"THES57120"},"number":"LB.1908"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-06-26","recordCreationDate":"2012-11-21","availableToBook":true}}