{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1310754"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1310754/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HP4260/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HP4260/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2015HP4260","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HP4261","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1310754/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1310754","accessionNumber":"W.3-2015","objectType":"Hand screen","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This hand screen – probably one of a pair – was used to shield the face from the heat of the fire. They were hung either side of the fireplace or arranged decoratively on the mantelpiece.\n\nIt is a rare and striking example of an object decorated after a plate in one of Christopher Dresser’s most important treatises, <i>Studies in Design</i> (1875). Plate 2 shows the owls standing upright, and is captioned ‘Parental advice’. Dresser wrote in the caption text that the design ‘may be painted on the panel of a door, on the door of a cabinet, or in any recess in a wall, especially suited to a smoking- room or nursery’. On this hand screen, the figures assume  a comical Shakespearian guise, the owlet becoming Yorick, lying dead, the larger owl Prince Hamlet, as identified by the caption which quotes the first three words of Hamlet’s famous line in Act 5, Scene 1 of the play: ‘Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy’.\n\nIn adapting Dresser’s design so imaginatively, and given the date at which the design was published, it is possible that the hand screen was decorated under Dresser’s direction for the Art Furnishers’ Alliance Co., an association of art manufacturers founded by him in 1880. It operated a retail premises in New Bond Street, Mayfair, London, until its liquidation in 1883. If this is so then the object’s form, probably based on that of a rigid Japanese fan (<i>uchiwa</i>), may relate to Dresser’s travels in Japan from 1876 to 1877, further demonstrating the influence of South East Asian objects and design on the Aesthetic Movement. \n\nAs stated in his preface to <i>Studies in Design</i>, Dresser ‘prepared this work with the hope of assisting to bring about a better style of decoration for our houses . . . It will also, it is hoped, aid the designer and the manufacturer of decorated objects, by suggesting to them useful ideas.’ Whether or not it was made directly under his instruction, this object provides a tantalising glimpse of the kind of interior decoration, now almost entirely lost, which Dresser was advocating.\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\t\n\n ","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Dresser, Christopher","id":"A8351"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Art Furnishers' Alliance","id":"A9034"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":"Possible manufacturer"}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Woodwork","id":"THES48877"},{"text":"Architectural fittings","id":"THES48994"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2015HP4260","2015HP4261"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"125E","id":"THES49214"},"free":"","case":"CA1","shelf":"","box":"4"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Hand screen","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1880","earliest":"1875-01-01","latest":"1884-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchase funded by Clarissa Ward","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This hand screen is a rare and striking example of an object decorated after a plate in one of Christopher Dresser’s most important treatises, <i>Studies in Design</i>  (1875). The chromolithographic plates in that book were a  compilation of designs made in Dresser’s studio between 1860 and 1875, described by Dresser in his introduction to chapter 1 (p. 2) as ‘my original  designs, with the exception of one or two examples, which are by my  advanced students and assistants. They are in all cases expressions of my individual feeling. They have been prepared during the last fifteen years’. \r\n\r\n\tAs stated in the preface, Dresser ‘prepared this work with the hope of  assisting to bring about a better style of decoration for our houses . . . It will  also, it is hoped, aid the designer and the manufacturer of decorated objects,  by suggesting to them useful ideas.’ Plate 2, on which the painted  decoration of this hand-screen is derived, shows both owls standing upright,  and is appropriately captioned ‘Parental advice’. Dresser wrote in the  caption text that the design ‘may be painted on the panel of a door, on the  door of a cabinet, or in any recess in a wall, especially suited to a smoking- room or nursery’, suggesting that he thought it equally suitable for a father (a respectable woman would not smoke) or child.\r\n\r\n\tOn this hand screen – probably originally one of a pair – the figures assume  a comical Shakespearian guise, the owlet becoming Yorick, lying dead, the  larger owl Prince Hamlet, as identified by the caption which quotes the first  three words of Hamlet’s famous line in Act 5, Scene 1 of the play:\r\n\t \r\n\t‘Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most  excellent fancy’.\r\n\r\n\tSimultaneously, the grim remains of Yorick and Hamlet’s musing on his fate  introduce the theme of earthly transience which would not have been lost on  a Victorian audience.\r\n\r\n\tIn adapting Dresser’s design so imaginatively, and given the date at which  the design was published, it is possible that the hand screen was decorated  under Dresser’s direction for the Art Furnishers’ Alliance Co., an association  of art manufacturers founded by Dresser in 1880 and which operated a retail  premises in New Bond Street, Mayfair until its liquidation in 1883. If this is so  then the object’s form, probably based on that of a rigid Japanese fan (uchiwa ), may relate to Dresser’s travels in Japan from 1876 to 1877, in  addition to demonstrating the wider influence of South East Asian objects  and design on the Aesthetic Movement. \r\n\r\n\tWhether or not it was made directly under Dresser’s instruction, the object is  contemporary to the publication of Studies in Design  and, besides  being a fascinating object in its own right, provides a tantalising  glimpse of the kind of interior decoration, now almost entirely  lost, which Dresser was advocating.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Hand screen","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["W.3-2015"],"accessionNumberNum":"3","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":2015,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-09","recordCreationDate":"2015-03-16","availableToBook":false}}