{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O382261"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O382261/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NW1677/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NW1677/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2024NW1677","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NW1676","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NW1675","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O382261","accessionNumber":"M.103-1935","objectType":"Plaque","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"When the Crystal Palace that housed the Great Exhibition of 1851 was built it enclosed 3 large Elm trees in Hyde Park. The elms appear in numerous depictions of the Great Exhibition including one of Queen Victoria opening the exhibition on 1st May 1851 (see V&A, Museum no. 329-1889). When the Crystal Palace was dismantled and taken to Sydneham in South London where it was rebuilt, one of the elm trees was marked with this plaque to memorialise the exhibition and the tree's starring role in it. ","physicalDescription":"Oval plaque with the inscription, 'This elm tree stood inside the first Great Exhibition of 1851', made of lead, London, c. 1851","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Lead","id":"AAT11022"}],"techniques":[{"text":"casting","id":"AAT53104"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Cast and punched lead","categories":[{"text":"Crystal Palace","id":"THES252996"},{"text":"Great Exhibition","id":"THES48945"},{"text":"History of the V&A","id":"THES252692"},{"text":"London","id":"THES270082"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Typography","id":"THES260188"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2024NW1677","2024NW1676","2024NW1675"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"013","id":"THES415475"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Plaque","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"c. 1851","earliest":"1846-01-01","latest":"1855-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Dated"}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"PH.1-1982","id":"O75282"},"association":"Depiction"},{"object":{"text":"329-1889","id":"O8820"},"association":"Depiction"}],"creditLine":"Given by H.M. Office of Works","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"19.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"03/07/2024","earliest":"2024-07-03","latest":"2024-07-03"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"22.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"03/07/2024","earliest":"2024-07-03","latest":"2024-07-03"},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"THIS ELM TREE STOOD INSIDE THE FIRST GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1851","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"This lead plaque is inscribed: 'THIS ELM TREE STOOD INSIDE THE FIRST GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1851'. When Joseph Paxton's enormous Crystal Palace was built in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, there was considerable opposition to it led by infuriated aristocrat, Col. Charles Waldo-Sibthorp, citing the risk to the ancient elm trees in the park. The angry colonel was not entirely motivated by conservation and appears to have opposed anything that changed after his late 18th-century childhood including Catholic Emancipation, the repeal of the Corn Laws, the Great Reform Act, railways, Prince Albert and the National Gallery. The Great Exhibition really upset him for advertising overseas products.\n\r\nThe elm trees were a useful rallying point. According to the Illustrated London News on 4th January 1851, when 9 trees were quietly removed from 'the lungs of London' one night, Sibthorp successfully lobbied Parliament to reprieve another. Paxton was forced to incorporate this and two other elms inside his futuristic building, leaving us with some very striking images of the interior of the palace. On opening the exhibition on 1 May 1851, Victoria and Albert are shown against a backdrop of cast iron, plate glass and luxuriant elm.\n\r\nWhen Paxton's masterpiece was dismantled and moved to Sydenham, a forlorn Illustrated London News then reported on 30 October 1852, 'The Crystal Palace has vanished as if by a touch of a fairy's wand. ... Now the site appears a desolate waste. The last column and the last girder have been carried away. ... But while the site ... presents an unpoetical aspect ... those great landmarks, the noble elms of the transept ... still remain.' And of the main elm that dominated the transept, 'may its shadow never be less'.\n\nAlas, in 1935 the lead plaque was given to the museum by the government's Office of Works who were responsible for the maintenance of the park and the elm is no longer there. News reports suggests a number of old elms fell in severe storms in the same year which may have caused the demise of this one. The plaque's twisted holes suggest it was wrenched rather unceremoniously from the tree.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Oval plaque with an inscription, formerly attached to one of three elm trees that stood in Hyde Park and were enclosed by the Great Exhibition building, made of lead in London, 1851","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Jonathan William Gardner, 'The Archaeology and Heritage of Mega Events in London, 1851-2012', PhD Thesis, University College London, 2017"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"'The Great Exhibition Building in Hyde Park', Illustrated London News, 4th January 1851"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"'The Last of the Old Crystal Palace in Hyde Park', Illustrated London News, 30th October 1852"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Limited edition","id":"THES48862"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Hyde Park","id":"x32311"}],"associatedPlaces":[{"text":"Hyde Park","id":"x32311"}],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[{"text":"Great Exhibition","id":"AUTH316300"}],"associatedEvents":[{"text":"Great Exhibition","id":"AUTH316300"}],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["M.103-1935"],"accessionNumberNum":"103","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":1935,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-20","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":true}}