{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1390671"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1390671/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2020ML1245/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2020ML1245/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2020ML1245","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London / courtesy of Frederick Warne & Co. ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JX2489","copyright":"© Frederick Warne & Co.","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1390671","accessionNumber":"BP.408","objectType":"Watercolour","titles":[{"title":"A dragonet (Callionymus lyra)","type":""}],"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\nFrom early childhood Beatrix Potter spent time drawing the many pets that she kept in her schoolroom: over the years, her pets included lizards, snails, bats, mice, rabbits and many other animals. During the family’s long summer holidays to rural areas she also took the opportunity to draw the plants and animals she saw in the countryside. Even her earliest childhood drawings show a serious interest in natural history, her sketches annotated with information about the species concerned. \r\n\r\nAs a young woman Beatrix Potter studied natural history with some seriousness, exploring the collections of the Natural History Museum, including the insect cases and fungi specimens. She had a collector’s cabinet full of specimens, from shells to dead butterflies and moths, and used a magnifying glass and a microscope to examine them more closely. She made numerous carefully observed studies of animals and plants from life. \r\n\r\nThis very detailed watercolour study of a common dragonet is an example of Potter’s quasi-scientific approach. She noted on the back of the sheet that the fish was ‘drawn from nature’; the study was made during a stay in the coastal town of Swanage, Dorset in April 1896.\r\n","physicalDescription":"Detailed study of a female common dragonet, as seen from above.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Beatrix Potter","id":"A18000"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"card","id":"x30344"},{"text":"watercolour (paint)","id":"AAT15045"}],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour painting (technique)","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"watercolour with pencil and pen and ink on card","categories":[{"text":"Watercolours","id":"THES277714"},{"text":"Animals and Wildlife","id":"THES250852"},{"text":"Woman Artist","id":"THES387590"},{"text":"Tourism & Travel","id":"THES250702"}],"styles":[{"text":"British","id":"AAT111159"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2020ML1245","2017JX2489"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES318119"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"watercolour (painting)","id":"AAT78925"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Swanage","id":"x39127"},"association":{"text":"drawn","id":"x30545"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"23 April 1896","earliest":"1896-04-23","latest":"1896-04-23"},"association":{"text":"drawn","id":"x30545"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number]","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"213","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"280","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'April 23rd 96. Swanage. Dragonet. Callionymus lyra.'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscribed in pencil by the artist, lower left."},{"content":"'drawn from nature. Beatrix Potter'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscribed in pencil by the artist, verso."}],"objectHistory":"Drawn by Beatrix Potter at Swanage, 23 April 1896. 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":"Watercolour study of a dragonet (Callionymus lyra) by Beatrix Potter, 23 April 1896; Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.196","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Hobbs, Anne Stevenson, and Joyce Irene Whalley, eds. <u>Beatrix Potter: the V & A collection : the Leslie Linder bequest of Beatrix Potter material : watercolours, drawings, manuscripts, books, photographs and memorabilia.</u> London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985.","id":"AUTH315806"},"details":"p. 27; no. 196","free":"Hobbs, Anne Stevenson, and Joyce Irene Whalley, eds. Beatrix Potter: the V & A collection: the Leslie Linder bequest of Beatrix Potter material: watercolours, drawings, manuscripts, books, photographs and memorabilia. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985. p. 27; no. 196"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"animals","id":"x30274"},{"text":"natural history","id":"AAT251095"},{"text":"fish","id":"x30068"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["BP.408"],"accessionNumberNum":"408","accessionNumberPrefix":"BP","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Linder Bequest catalogue no.","id":"THES57120"},"number":"LB.196"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-09-19","recordCreationDate":"2017-05-03","availableToBook":true}}