{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O155868"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O155868/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019LY0122/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019LY0122/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2019LY0122","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London / courtesy of Frederick Warne & Co. ","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O155868","accessionNumber":"BP.1131E","objectType":"drawing","titles":[{"title":"Tom Kitten confronting a rat","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.  <i>The Tale of Peter Rabbit</i> (Frederick Warne, 1902) is her most famous and best-loved tale.\r\n\r\n<i>The Roly-Poly Pudding</i> (1908) was the second of Potter's books to be issued in a large format (the first large-format book, <i>The Pie and the Patty-Pan</i>, was published in 1905). The larger format allowed for more illustrations, in particular sepia line drawings as well as colour illustrations. In her line drawings, such as this sketch of Tom Kitten confronting a rat, Potter suggests movement and expression in just a few lines.  Blank spaces are never redundant - like Randolph Caldecott, an artist she claimed to copy, she mastered the 'art of leaving out', regarding space and line as equal components in her illustrations.     \r\n\r\nPotter drew inspiration for her story of the two rats, Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria, from her Lake District farmhouse, Hill Top. A year after purchasing the house, she wrote to her friend, Millie Warne, 'The rats have come back in great force; two big ones were trapped in the shed here, besides turning out a nest of eight baby rats in the cucumber frame opposite the door' (4 October 1906). Whilst renovating the house Potter decided to keep the fireplace, 'wanted for the next book'. Hill Top became the setting for the story and can still be identified in her book illustrations today.\r\n\r\nPotter presented her finished manuscript of <i>The Roly-Poly Pudding</i> to Winifred Warne (the daughter of her publisher, Fruing Warne) for Christmas in 1906.  The book was finally published in 1908 and dedicated to Potter's pet white rat, Sammy. In 1926 the book was re-issued in the small format to complement the other books in the series. The finished version of this illustration appears on page 75 of Warne's 2002 edition, alongside the text:\r\n\r\nBut Tom Kitten has always been \r\nafraid of a rat; he never durst face \r\nanything that is bigger than - \r\n[a mouse].","physicalDescription":"Pencil and pen and ink drawing on paper of a cat, Tom Kitten, (left) confronting a rat (right). The rat is partly emerged from a gap in the floorboards.","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":"Pencil and pen and ink on paper","categories":[{"text":"Drawings","id":"THES48966"},{"text":"Illustration","id":"THES48938"},{"text":"Animals and Wildlife","id":"THES250852"},{"text":"Anthropomorphism","id":"THES252998"},{"text":"Children & Childhood","id":"THES48980"},{"text":"Books","id":"THES48986"},{"text":"Woman Artist","id":"THES387590"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2019LY0122"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"015","id":"THES317977"},"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":"1908","earliest":"1908-01-01","latest":"1908-12-31"},"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":"129","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Whole object","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"201","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Whole object","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Same size practically'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscription in pencil by Beatrix Potter on recto"},{"content":"'X'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Ink mark on verso"}],"objectHistory":"Drawn by Beatrix Potter in 1908 for <u>The Roly-Poly Pudding</u> (later renamed <u>The Tale of Samuel Whiskers</u>.  Acquired by the V&A from Leslie Linder (1904-1973) as part of the Linder Bequest in 1973.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Pen and ink drawing of Tom Kitten confronting a rat by Beatrix Potter, 1908; preliminary drawing for 'The Roly-Poly Pudding' (later renamed 'The Tale of Samuel Whiskers') published by Frederick Warne & Co. in 1908; Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.782.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"'Hobbs and Whalley, Beatrix Potter : the V&A Collection, London, 1985'","id":"AUTH315806"},"details":"Brief catalogue entry, no. 782.","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Tom Kitten","id":"N7387"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"cats","id":"x34806"},{"text":"rat (animal)","id":"x35778"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"fear","id":"AAT55160"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":["Preliminary drawing for the illustration on p.75 of the 2002 edition of <u>The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding</u> (first published by Frederick Warne & Co. in 1908)."],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["BP.1131(E)"],"accessionNumberNum":"1131","accessionNumberPrefix":"BP","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Linder Bequest catalogue no.","id":"THES57120"},"number":"LB.782"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-18","recordCreationDate":"2008-06-12","availableToBook":false}}