York Museums Trust Blog

Willow pattern is probably the best known and most enduring example of English chinoiserie design.  It is generally accepted that Thomas Minton engraved the earliest version in the 18th century.

Willow pattern is wholly English in concept, but completely Chinese in inspiration.  It is not a direct copy from any Chinese design, but is a composite drawn from Chinese sources.  The early versions vary quite a lot, but by the first decade of the 19th century a standard pattern had emerged, and this is still being produced today.  It has even found its way back to China.

The willow pattern was produced by many potteries and proved to be very popular. Stories and legends then grew up around the design.  Although the stories varied, they usually centred on a pair of doomed lovers who are turned into birds by sympathetic gods. The first known printed version of the willow pattern legend was published in the magazine, The Family Friend, in 1849.

YORCM : 2007.446

Information by - Michelle

This is a large, four storey, wooden doll’s house. I t was made for Phyllis Dulce Warwick in about 1895 when she was 8 years old.  The rooms are furnished with the original objects.

The doll’s house is wired for electricity and still has original carbon filament bulbs (very few real houses would have been lit by electricity in 1895).

The most interesting and unusual piece of furniture is the miniature Ice Chest.  On top there is a hinged lid revealing the space where the block of ice would be stored, the interior is painted grey to represent the metal lining the full-sized chest would have.  On the shelf in the cold compartment there is a miniature cooked chicken.  Ice Chests as a form of cold storage became popular in the late 19th Century.

Information by - Sarah Maultby

 YORCM : 1972.51

click for a better view

This is a domino-sized piece of soapstone engraved in reverse with the words “Julius Alexander’s salve for irritations”.

It is one of only 60 such stamps world-wide. Cosmetic branding was as important to the Romans as it is to us today. This stamp ensured that people knew they were getting ‘ the real McCoy ‘ and not some forgery.

It was found on the Mount by the Dickinsons - a farmer and his nephew who worked land on which the Mount School now stands. They worked very closely with local archaeologist Peter Wenham in collecting and plotting Roman objects from their land.

Their collection of artefacts now forms part of the archaeological collections at the Yorkshire Museum.

Information by - Andrew Morrison

YORYM 2006.2878

This is a good example of a typically “tourist” Italian leaf, mounted up on fine, imported Eastern (most likely Chinese) sticks. Visitors to the Bay of Naples – many of them on the Grand Tour – would buy these and take them home, in much the same way as tourists to Spain sometimes bring home those rather naff little fans made of plastic and nylon lace!

It is a carved ivory fan, with a fine skin leaf painted with three trompe l’oeil views from around the Bay of Naples, with two leaves of handwritten script placed between. On one, beneath the caption “Aria”, are words from the opera Orpheus and Euridice. The other leaf gives the name and address of the painter, Sign. Nicola Lanezno, and is dated Naples, 1779. The reverse of the leaf shows Vesuvius erupting.

info by Josie   (BA293)

This late Viking style sword has just been given to the Yorkshire Museum. It was found in the River Ouse at Cawood is one of the most significant swords ever found in North Yorkshire. Its design is a mixture of late Anglo-Scandinavian (Viking) and early medieval features and this gives it an exciting and interesting place in the development of sword design.

On either side of the blade there is an inscription made up of capital letters. They most likely represent initial letters of a number of Latin words that would make up a saying of some importance to the owner.

The sword was allocated to the Yorkshire Museum through the Government’s ‘Acceptance in Lieu’ programme whereby items considered to be national treasures are gifted to museums to offset some inheritance tax that would otherwise be due from the owner. This is the first such allocation that has ever been made to the Yorkshire Museum.

Described in the big book of swords as of “outstanding importance”. It is probably made by the same hand or ‘workshop’ as a near identical sword in the Oslo Museum which is dated to A.D. 1100.

We will be working with the Cawood Castle Garth local history group to discover more about the sword and its discovery.

Info. by - Andrew Morrison

YORYM : 2007.3086

This view of Kikham Abbey gateway by John Sell Cotman was painted in between the 17th and 20th July 1805 whilst he was staying at Brandsby Hall, near York.

Cotman is considered to be one of the finest watercolourists of the nineteenth century, and this work dates from a period of his greatest creativity.

The picture was presented to York Art Gallery by the National Art Collections Fund in 1955, as part of the Cook bequest.

Look out for an exhibition John Sell Cotman and his Contemporaries in the Little Gallery starting in February at York Art Gallery.

Alastair Smith

YORAG R1702

This little handbill has recently been added to the collection. The concert was part of the Beatles 2^nd UK tour, a tour which was to be headlined by the Americans Chris Montez and Tommy Roe. However, the Beatles’ single Please Please Me hit the top of the charts and by the time the Beatles came to York they were the headliners. It is right at the cusp of the outbreak of Beatlemania and illustrates the way in which the British came to dominate the 60s scene. The original booking form would have been at the bottom of the bill had it not been removed by an eager fan forty four years ago. One lady who went to see the Beatles at the Rialto said that it was a wonderful experience but, even though she was in the second row, she couldn’t hear the music for the screaming!

Well, two Young Archaeologists choose some lovely objects to display, at least.

Some of you may remember my earlier post mentioning that the winners of the Young Archaeologist of the Year  Award were coming to the museum.  James and Jocelyn, and their families, had a great time exploring the stores. They examined, and handled, all sorts of artefacts including Roman glass, medieval pottery, prehistoric axes and Viking antler.  As part of their prize the two winners picked some interesting objects to go on display, including a sword, stone tools and some gold.

Nicky Milstead, who helps run the Young Archaeologists’ Club, popped over to the museum today to help us put it all together. The objects Jocelyn and James chose make a really fun case full. I’m hoping we’ll leave the display in for a few weeks to allow other budding archaeologists to see what James’ and Jocelyn’s favourites were. Who knows, maybe they will be putting museum displays together in a few years time?

The latest from our curatorial bulletins, this is from the Military Historian, Keith:

This chocolate tin was presented by the Mayor and Sheriff of York to a soldier from York for Christmas 1914. This act of generosity, presenting all servicemen from York with a Christmas gift, was helped by the Sheriff being Oscar Rowntree, of the chocolate firm. What makes this tin very special is that the recipient resisted temptation and kept the contents intact. To the servicemen this was a very welcome gift. Most were not regular soldiers or sailors having joined the forces in the patriotic fervour of war breaking out in August. Many were away from their home city for the first time.

The realities of modern warfare were beginning to reveal themselves - such as static trench warfare, mass artillery bombardments, submarine warfare and use of aeroplanes. The promise of being ‘home by Christmas’ was not happening. The arrival of the gift was a real boost. This is shown in letters to the Mayor’s office now held in the Local History Section of York Library. Many recipients wrote to thank the Mayor and Sheriff for their gift, some wrote asking for more! Once the true nature and scale of the war was realised such gestures became rare. There was no similar gift in 1915.

This is from our internal ‘Collections Snapshot’ by Katherine:

Sometimes objects which don’t make the best photographs are really exciting. This Roman glass vessel is around 2000 years old, made of really thin and delicate glass and yet is virtually complete. It’s unusually large for this type of vessel, and we’re not sure what it was used for – perhaps for cosmetics, or oil, or even offerings. After being placed into a grave, it was not disturbed until the railway station was built at the end of the 19th century.