Object of the Day, Museum Edition: 'Jeu de l'Echarpe,' 1898-1904

The Victoria & Albert Museum

This delicate figure of white biscuit porcelain is part of a grand table design of fifteen standing female sculptures of the “scarf dance” made famous by Loïe Fuller. The group was made between 1898 and 1904, designed by Agathon Léonard for the Sèvres porcelain factory in Paris.

This fluid, elegant group was intended for display on a table or sideboard and depicts each step in Fuller’s celebrated dance—“Jeu de l'Echarpe.” Agathon Léonard was careful in the design of the group, mastering each motion and expression of Fuller’s dance. He was born Léonard Agathon van Weydeveldt of Belgian parents and trained as a sculptor, specializing in ceramic modeling. The group from which this sculpture comes is considered one of his great triumphs.


The full group, fittingly entitled “Jeu de I'Echarpe,” was first shown in the Paris 1900 Exhibition at which Sèvres won a Grand Prix, and was described in the exhibition report as "elegant figures in a graceful and charming ensemble which were a great and deserved success.” This figure and its porcelain sisters typify the spirit of Art Nouveau style—undulation, movement, and the idealized female form. Léonard couldn’t have picked a better subject than Miss Fuller. The American dancer was a regular fixture at the Folies Bergère, Paris where her free-flowing, silk-clad dance caught the attention of many an artist, including the French artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec who was also drawn to the elegant theatricality of the spectacle.

The figure is marked number “12” of the group of fifteen and bears the marks “S” and “1904.”

Mastery of Design: A Hungarian Headband, mid to late Thirteenth Century

Fragment of a Headband
Thirteenth Century
Images Courtesy of The British Museum

While just a fragment now, once this headband would have adorned the brow of a wealthy Hungarian lady of the mid to late Thirteenth Century.  What remains is the frontmost piece of the band.  Two smaller sections would have flanked this and, from these, a ribbon would have been attached to tie at the back of the wearer's head.

Set in gold, cabochon rubies, sapphires and emeralds are joined by seed pearls, making a regal statement against the elegant filigree-work.

The fragment is now housed in The British Museum.

Gratuitous Bertie Dog Picture, Special Edition: The High and Mighty

"That's a nice throne, Vickie."

Click image to enlarge.

Image:  'The High & Mighty Queen receiving an address from the Most Loyal Subjects in the World', London, 1837 to ca. 1845, Mc Lean, Thomas (publisher), Materials and Techniques: hand coloured etching, ink on paper, Credit Line: Accepted by HM Government in Lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the V&A in 2010, The George Speaight Punch and Judy Archive at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Mr. Punch's Puzzles: The Riddle of the Week

Once, again, Mr. Punch, with my help, is offering up a true Victorian riddle. The first person to answer correctly--by posting in the comments--will receive public congratulations.

So, here's this week's riddle. We ask that you don't Google the answer. Mr. Punch would not find that sporting at all. Give it a shot and see what you can come up with. Here we go... No cheating...

What is it that by losing an eye has nothing left but a nose?
And, the answer is NOISE!

We had a myriad of clever answers today.  We had Darcy's "Popeye," and Dashwood's "Flying Purple People Eater."  I suppose the People Eater's offspring would be Gene's mother in law and Angelo's former teacher.

Come back next Friday for another of Mr. Punch's Puzzles!

Drawing of the Day: Capsize -- To Upset or Turn Over Everything, Eighteenth Century

"Capsize -- To Upset or Turn Over Anything"
Eighteenth Century
The George Speaight Archive
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This comic illustration from the Eighteenth Century is entitled “Capsize: - To Upset or Turn Over Anything.”

Now part of the George Speaight Archive at the V&A, this illustration depicts a fit-up which has been overturned as the puppeteer is being attacked by a clearly disgruntled audience member.

The following caption accompanies the scene:

'There, I told you I'de ge you von/ if I cotebed you making game/ o'me agin' 

'Vy they ar'always taking us off'

I’m not sure what this all means from a satirical standpoint, but we get the gist of it.  As Mr. Punch is often the voice of the people and makes his fun of political or social newsmakers, the attacker  here must surely have taken umbrage at being the "punch line."

Mr. Punch of Belgrave Square, Chapter 355

Chapter 355
The Future Mrs. Gerard Gurney


The gilded turquoise and coral plaster halls of No. 65 Belgrave Square echoed with the sounds of joy on the evening before the marriage of Gamilla and Gerard was to take place.  The women had gathered in the Morning Room and the men, just above them, in the library, stacked like two books filled with pages of glad anticipation.  Between them, the grand hall vibrated with their voices, the scents of cigars and perfume mingling in the glass dome.

When Gamilla first entered the Morning Room, she began to cry happy tears upon seeing the preparations that the female staff, following Lennie's carefully planned designs, had made.  The sideboard was laden with the canapes, cakes sweets which Maudie had made for the occasion while the center table groaned under the weight of gifts, mostly from Lennie, for the bride's trousseau.  Vases on each table, each pedestal, the desk, and the mantelpiece were filled with brightly-hued flowers, set against the vivid green of ferns and sparked with the white of baby's breath.  

"This is for me?"  Gamilla shook her head, tears rolling down her face.

"Of course,"  Lennie smiled.  "You're the bride."

"I...I...never had such..."  Gamilla shook her head again.  "I never had such friends.  Not since my sister..."  She took a deep breath.  "You did this for me?  It's all so beautiful?  You're all so beautiful.  You all jus' look lovely.  Look at ya!"

They did, indeed look beautiful.  

Lennie, of course, was dressed most fashionably, not surprisingly.  She wore a new gown of rose silk trimmed with lace.  Violet had curled Lennie's hair and piled it upon her head in a cascade of ringlets held in place by a gold comb set with pink sapphires--a recent gift from her brother who had designed the comb to match what he called the "healthy glow" of Lennie's cheeks.  Around her slender throat hung a necklace, also given her by the Duke, which shined brightly in the light of the oil lamps and candles, sparkling the fire of perfect diamonds and pink spinel.  

While Lady Fallbridge naturally wore the most expensive attire of the lot, the others looked equally lovely in their Sunday best.  Mrs. Pepper had long labored over her simple, but elegant gown, spending the weeks since Gamilla's engagement creating the garment from fabrics she'd been saving for years.  Sturdily made using a pattern from 1851, the dress obviously turned out as Mrs. Pepper had planned since she wore the dove gray dress with tremendous pride.  At her neck, she had placed her most prized possession, the silver brooch which her late husband had given her on their wedding day.  It was set with a glittering garnet which, like Lennie's diamonds, danced in the dim light of the room.

Violet, Maudie and Ethel did not have the time and resources to make a dress for the party and following wedding day as Mrs. Pepper had.  However, each looked pretty in their church clothes.  Violet, so rarely seen without her cap, had styled her blonde hair (which had finally grown to a more manageable length since being so unceremoniously cut in Scotland) in such a way that it looked like a golden halo around her pale face, a face which shone luminously against her dark sapphire-blue cotton dress.  

The other two girls, in their gingham had the favor of youth on their side.  Out of their aprons and uniforms, and scrubbed, they both looked like the young ladies that they were.  Their smiles, and dreams of their own future weddings served as their jewels and were equally as brilliant.

"Well, don't just stand there, Gamilla!"  Ethel chirped.  "Come and sit!  Her ladyship has planed all sorts of games and we got presents for ya and Maudie's spent the day in the kitchen makin' all these delicious things."

"And a fine job she's done."  Mrs. Pepper nodded proudly.

"I...I jus' don't know what to say."  Gamilla replied.

Lennie, who'd led Gamilla to the Morning Room, took Gamilla by the hand and gently pulled her toward a settee.  

"You shouldn't have done all this for me."  Gamilla continued.  She shook her head.  "I ain't nothin' special.  I...I ain't."

"You're wonderfully special!"  Lennie objected.  "You're so loved by everyone here.  This is, if you prefer, more for us than it is you.  We have so few opportunities to really show one another how we feel.  Tonight is a celebration of that and of the many happy years you'll spend being Mrs. Gerard Gurney."

Gamilla wiped her eyes.  "Mrs. Gerard Gurney."  

"A fine name."  Mrs. Pepper grinned.

"Sure is.  Gamilla Gurney."  Maudie added.  "Cor!  You both got the same monogram.  Ain't that convenient!"

Ethel laughed loudly.  "They can use the same handkerchiefs!"

Everyone joined in the laughter, but, soon, Gamilla began to cry again.

"Oh, there, dearie."  Mrs. Pepper sat next to Gamilla.  "I remember the night before my weddin' and cried just as you do.  Happy tears, nervous tears, grateful tears, frightened tears.  All brides do."

"But, I ain't all brides, Mrs. Pepper."  Gamilla answered softly.

"No, you're not."  Lennie nodded.  "You're our Gamilla.  A grand, lovely, gentle woman."

"Who, not to long ago,"  Gamilla sniffed, "belonged to someone like property.  I was as much a possession as a candlestick or a bed warmer.  I wasn't a person, not at all."

Maudie's eyes widened.  "Is that so?"

"What do ya think, silly?  An African woman what was workin' in America on one o' them big farms?"  Ethel whispered.  "She was a slave."

"Now, you are a free woman."  Lennie said quickly.

"I never even had a surname."  Gamilla continued.

"And, now, you shall."  Lennie answered gently.

"And a husband what loves ya."  Mrs. Pepper added.

"A handsome one, too."  Violet winked.

"He is that handsome, Gerard is.  Isn't he?"  Maudie smiled.

"He is."  Gamilla nodded.  "And more so, he's a kind man.  Rose above a horrible bad life and made himself into a good, solid fella."  She smiled again.

"There's your smile."  Lennie sighed contentedly.  "Let's have no more tears for now.  There's no good in dwelling upon where we've been.  Believe me, Gamilla, I must remind myself of that each day."

"Ain't that true."  Gamilla grinned.  "We gotta look ahead."

"Let me put together a nice plate for ya!"  Maudie suggested.

"No, she should open her presents first."  Ethel shook her head.

"There's time enough for all we've planned."  Lennie giggled.

"That's right, Your Ladyship, we all got nothin' but time."  Mrs. Pepper nodded.

"I'm just itchin' for 'er to see what Maudie and I made for her."  Ethel said excitedly.  "And, all them lovely things Miss Lennie...I mean, Her Ladyship, bought..."

"Oh, Ethel, you are wonderful."  Lennie smiled.  "We shall do all of that.  But, first, I'd like to just say something to all of you."

Everyone looked expectantly at Lennie.

"I know I said that dwelling on the past is never helpful, and, so I shan't except to say that until I came here, I never knew such happiness.  While I never knew the sort of life our Gamilla has had to endure, I know a variation of it.  Then, by chance, really, I met my brother, and, through His Grace, all of you who have shown me more kindness than all of the people I've known in the past combined.  No matter where we reside in this house, we're all of us, friends, and it's something for which I've longed all my life--this friendship.  Gamilla was one of the first to welcome me.  Gamilla, I'm so proud to know you.  I've learned so much from you and I know I've much more to learn.  I speak for his Grace and His Lordship when I say that it's with considerable pride and joy that tomorrow we will welcome Mr. and Mrs. Gerard Gurney into these halls, and, with much gladness will we watch your own family grow and thrive alongside the family we already have here."

"Thank you."  Gamilla swallowed emotionally.

"Here's to Gamilla!"  Violet cheered. 

"To Gamilla!"  The others chimed in.

"Here, now can we play that game where we guess how many babies Gamilla's gonna 'ave?"  Ethel asked eagerly.

The group laughed.

"I thought you wanted to open the presents first."  Lennie grinned.

"Oh, yeah, that!"  Ethel said quickly.

"Gamilla?  What do you prefer?"  Lennie asked.

"I ain't ready to be thinkin' 'bout babies."  Gamilla smiled.

"Gifts, it is, then."  Lennie nodded.

"This is all the best gift of all."  Gamilla replied.

"We should say that of you."  Lennie answered.

Mrs. Pepper wiped her eyes.  "Now, I'm cryin!  Oh, my heavens, but ain't weddin's grand?"


Did you miss Chapters 1-354 of Mr. Punch of Belgrave Square?  If so, you can read them here.  Come back tomorrow for Chapter 356.

The Art of Play: Punch and Judy Finger Puppets, circa 1970

Punch and Judy Finger Puppets, c. 1970
This and all related images from The Victoria and Albert Museum.

Sandcastles, donkey rides, Punch and Judy - all part of a day at the British seaside. At its popular in Victorian times, the show still brings pleasure (and terror!) to thousands of children on our summer beaches. 

So reads the reverse of this toy which has newly been added to the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum.  I was quite tickled to find this circa 1970 finger puppet set when searching for Punch and Judy related items.  I was so tickled, in fact, that I almost forgot for a moment that it's July in Texas, and, therefore utterly miserable.  Almost.

Let's take a look at this charming set, shall we?  These finger puppets came packed in a box which also doubles as a fit-up or theatre for their miniature puppet show.  The set was meant as a charming reminder of bygone, innocent summers...summers that maybe weren't so hot and miserable.  Sorry...I was distracted.

The printed box sports the traditional striped, gilded frame, theatrical draping and green skirting associated for centuries with a Punch and Judy booth.  A die-cut opening at the front affords a venue for the finger puppets.  

Inside, are Punch and his wife, Judy--both made of printed cotton with slightly padded fronts.  Punch is dressed in his usual red suit and dropping hat, trimmed in gold.  Of course, he carries his cudgel.  Judy dons the traditional white checkered dress and lace cap which we associate with Mrs. Punch.  And, of course, she's carrying, "the Baby."

Manufactured in Britain, the set was designed and made by Anne Wilkinson Designs.  It was produced through 1990.