{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1386938"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1386938/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KA0617/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KA0617/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2017KA0617","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KA0622","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1386938","accessionNumber":"Gestetner 223","objectType":"Paper peepshow","titles":[{"title":"[Workhouse scene?]","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"This home-made paper peepshow is unique in many ways. The elongated dimension already sets it apart from most of the other paper peepshows in the Gestetner Collection. The harsh printed winter scene on the front-face contrasts with the cosy domestic interior softly painted on the cut-out panels. The maker seems to have used materials at hand to construct this work. The bellows, however, are made of a paper too thick to neatly collapse or expand. The perspectival illusion, usually seen in other works, is limited by this design flaw, and further hindered by the lining up of the figures on the internal panels. In fact, the paper peepshow looks more like a miniature stage set, with little emphasis on depth.\n\r\nIt is unclear what the paper peepshow intends to portray, but Ralph Hyde (p.192) speculates that this is a workhouse scene (hence the suggestive title). The depiction of women and girls reading together could be the reflection of the Victorian idea that women reading alone and in silence entailed a free and secret interaction between the reader and the words, and could be potentially dangerous and rebellious. Reading aloud and in a group, on the other hand, formed bonds and social ties, and was promoted as particularly appropriate for women.\r\n","physicalDescription":"Hand-made accordion-style paper peepshow of women and girls in an interior setting.\n\r\n3 cut-out panels. 1 peep-hole. Wood engraving and watercolour drawing. Expands to approximately 25 cm.\n\r\nFront-face: a man on the right carrying firewood passing by a line of fence; trees on the left and a cottage in the middle. The peep-hole consists of a rectangular opening in the centre.\n\r\nPanels 1-3: two girls and women of all ages sitting on benches. Most of them reading a book or sharing a book with a neighbour. One girl playing with a cat; one woman holding a baby. An embossed stamp of ‘Reynolds Bristol Board’ on the back of panel 2.\n\r\nBack panel: an open fire in the middle, with candles and china on the mantelpiece. Shawls on hooks on the left; a clock on the right.\r\n","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"National Art Library","id":"THES271541"},{"text":"Optical toys","id":"THES274374"},{"text":"Paper Peepshow","id":"THES275149"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"NAL","id":"THES48605"},"images":["2017KA0617","2017KA0622"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"NAL","id":"THES251738"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"peepshows","id":"AAT211180"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1830","earliest":"1825-01-01","latest":"1834-12-31"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x30682"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Accepted under the Cultural Gifts Scheme by HM Government from the collections of Jacqueline and Jonathan Gestetner and allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum, 2016.","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"13.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"20.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"25","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"fully extended","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Roger Warner of Burford (in 1988).\r\n\r\nPart of the Jacqueline and Jonathan Gestetner Collection, collected over 30 years and given to the V&A Museum through the government's Cultural Gift Scheme, 2016.\r\n\r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"[Workhouse scene?], ca. 1830","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"R. Hyde, Paper Peepshows. The Jacqueline and Jonathan Gestetner Collection (Woodbridge: The Antique Collectors' Club, 2015), cat. 223."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["38041017020611"],"accessionNumberNum":"38041017020611","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"NAL barcode","id":"THES50330"},"number":"38041017020611"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-05","recordCreationDate":"2017-03-08","availableToBook":false}}