{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O41441"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O41441/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM8260/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM8260/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AM8260","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O41441/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O41441","accessionNumber":"S.252-1999","objectType":"Set design","titles":[{"title":"The Mikado","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"<b>Object Type</b><br>In the 19th century, set designs were usually devised and executed by one person - a craftsman designer or scene painter - not as now by separate designers. After set designs were approved,  squared-up drawings were produced from which enlarged versions were painted in the correct proportions.<br><br><b>People</b><br>By 1885 Hawes Craven (1837-1910) was a leading scenic artist whose collaboration with Henry Irving for his grand productions at the Lyceum Theatre resulted in some of the most spectacular and thoroughly researched scenery on the London stage. These included <i>Hamlet</i> in 1878, and <i>Much Ado About Nothing</i> in 1882.<br><br><b>Time</b><br>By the 1880s, lavish stage design was an increasingly important element of a successful stage production. As one commentator noted: 'In these present days of scenic display, when even no poor ghost can walk undisturbed by scientific satellites, lime-lights, mirrors and the like, the Scene painter is a far more important person in the theatre than the Tragedian'. (<i>Life and Writings of T.W. Robertson</i>, by R. Edgar Pemberton, 1893).<br><br><b>Places</b><br>After this design for  <i>The Mikado</i> was first seen at London's Savoy Theatre, 1885, one critic noted 'the beautiful pictures of Japan from the brush of Mr Hawes Craven', saying that audiences should be grateful 'for being translated from the terrible land of fogs to the sunny landscapes of Japan'. (Quoted in the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>, 16 March 1885).","physicalDescription":"Design for the setting of Act I of <i>The Mikado</i>, showing a Japanese-style pagoda stage left, trees stage right and steps centre back with a vista of a lake beyond.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Craven, Hawes","id":"A4042"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"AAT15045"},{"text":"gouache","id":"AAT70114"},{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour and bodycolour over pencil on drawing board","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"},{"text":"British Galleries","id":"THES48985"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2006AM8260"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"125E","id":"THES49214"},"free":"","case":"CA8","shelf":"","box":"43"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"set design","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1885","earliest":"1885-01-01","latest":"1885-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Dame Bridget D'Oyly Carte","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"46","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"64.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Designed by Hawes Craven (1837-1910) for the original production of  The Mikado by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan at The Savoy Theatre, 14 March 1885.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Set design by Hawes Craven for Act l of  the original production of The Mikado, Savoy Theatre, 1885.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Reference to the setting by Hawes Craven in a review of The Mikado from The Globe newspaper, 16 March 1885:\r\n'The action takes place in the town of Titipu, and on the first rising of the curtain hearty applause was elicited by Mr. Hawes Craven's picture of the 'Court-yard of Ko-Ko's official residence', with a Japanese landscape beyond, and the courtyard occupied by a number of Japanese grandees attired in gorgeous robes'.\r\n\r\nReference in the review in The Observer, 16 March 1885:\r\n' A handsomer and more telling stage picture than that disclosed in the courtyard of Ko-Ko's official residence can hardly be imagined.  Everything looks as solid and real as do the highly-finished models by which alone we most of us know what Japanese architecture and Japanese figures are like'"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"British Galleries:\nTHE MIKADO<br>\nThe Japanese craze spread to the theatre and its most famous production was Gilbert and Sullivan's 'The Mikado', the success of which did much to popularise the image of Japan. The costumes were  authentically researched and many were made from Japanese fabric supplied by Liberty's. Gilbert used a Japanese setting to deliberately poke fun at British life and institutions.","date":{"text":"27/03/2003","earliest":"2003-03-27","latest":"2003-03-27"}}],"partNumbers":["S.252-1999"],"accessionNumberNum":"252","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":1999,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN0723","2019LP9639","2019LP3079","2019LV7489"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-22","recordCreationDate":"2000-07-10","availableToBook":false}}