Hand screen, Dresser, Christopher, ca. 1880
Record status
Individual type · partial
Period
ca. 1880
Hand screen, Dresser, Christopher, ca. 1880 is an object recorded by Victoria and Albert Museum, dated ca. 1880. The museum's brief description reads: Hand screen. Museum description: This hand screen – probably one of a pair – was used to shield the face from the heat of the fire. They were hung either side of the fireplace or arranged decoratively on the mantelpiece. It is a rare and striking example of an object decorated after a plate in one of Christopher Dresser’s most important treatises, Studies in Design (1875). Plate 2 shows the owls standing upright, and is captioned ‘Parental advice’. Dresser wrote in the caption text that the design ‘may be painted on the panel of a door, on the door of a cabinet, or in any recess in a wall, especially suited to a smoking- room or nursery’. On this hand screen, the figures assume a comical Shakespearian guise, the owlet becoming Yorick, lying dead, the larger owl Prince Hamlet, as identified by the caption which quotes the first three words of Hamlet’s famous line in Act 5, Scene 1 of the play: ‘Alas, poor Yorick! I knew… The museum record gives maker recorded: Dresser, Christopher. These details come from the holding museum's own record; how far this object represents a wider collectible type has not yet been independently verified.
Evidence at a glance
- Linked sources
- 1
- Photograph views
- 1
- Catalogue references
- 0
Counts describe this entry’s documentation, not authenticity, rarity or completeness. Photographs may show one specimen; check each caption and licence.
Historical context
This hand screen – probably one of a pair – was used to shield the face from the heat of the fire. They were hung either side of the fireplace or arranged decoratively on the mantelpiece. It is a rare and striking example of an object decorated after a plate in one of Christopher Dresser’s most important treatises, Studies in Design (1875). Plate 2 shows the owls standing upright, and is captioned ‘Parental advice’. Dresser wrote in the caption text that the design ‘may be painted on the panel of a door, on the door of a cabinet, or in any recess in a wall, especially suited to a smoking- room or nursery’. On this hand screen, the figures assume a comical Shakespearian guise, the owlet becoming Yorick, lying dead, the larger owl Prince Hamlet, as identified by the caption which quotes the first three words of Hamlet’s famous line in Act 5, Scene 1 of the play: ‘Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy’. In adapting Dresser’s design so imaginatively, and given the date at which the design was published, it is possible that the hand screen was decorated under Dresser’s direction for the Art Furnishers’ Alliance Co., an association of art manufacturers founded by him in 1880. It operated a retail premises in New Bond Street, Mayfair, London, until its liquidation in 1883. If this is so then the object’s form, probably based on that of a rigid Japanese fan (uchiwa), may relate to Dresser’s travels in Japan from 1876 to 1877,…
Technical characteristics
- Maker recorded
- Dresser, Christopher
Identification
- Museum object name
- Hand screen
- Museum object number
- W.3-2015
- Museum system number
- O1310754
Catalogue references
No catalogue numbers recorded. Numbers are only published once transcribed from a verified edition of a standard catalogue — they are never inferred.
Research required
- Research required: confirm materials, dimensions, maker and wider type against the holding institution and a specialist reference.