A Pair of Chinese Export Bird Paintings, Circa 1800-20 The paintings of exotic birds on branches are in watercolour and gouache on Chinese paper. One picture depicts  More »

A Pair of Chinese Export Bird Paintings, Circa 1800-20 The paintings of exotic birds on branches are in watercolour and gouache on Chinese paper. One picture depicts a pigeon perched on a tree branch with a landscape background. ;Chinese calligraphy can be seen in the top right corner. ;The second picture depicts two courting birds in shades of brown, both perched on a branch, also in a landscape background. Both paintings framed with a green silk mat and contemporary gilt and dark wood frame. Reference: Chinese Export Watercolours by Craig Clunas ( Victoria and Albert Museum Far Eastern Series),page 89 for ;very similar composition of a Hawfinch on a branch. A Souvenir From Guangzhou Pauline WebberHead of Paper, Book & Paintings Conservation A selection of approximately 200 Chinese export 1 paintings from the V&A''s collection were exhibited at the Guangzhou [formerly Canton] Museum of Art in China from 28 September 2003-4 January 2004. Very few export paintings of this type remain in the collections in Guangzhou; consequently they are regarded with great interest by Chinese scholars as an invaluable documentation of the history, activities and socio-cultural exchanges that took place around the Pearl River Delta during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The paintings were produced in the port cities of China and became popular souvenirs sold to western travellers and merchants. They represent the images of Chinese culture taken back to the West in an age that pre-dated photography. Appropriately, the exhibition was entitled ''Souvenirs from Canton''. During the eighteenth century no visit to Canton was complete without purchasing some artwork from one of the new painting studios in New China Street. Watercolours had an added attraction because they were of a convenient size, were relatively inexpensive, and could be bound into albums and books for ease of storage and display. The artists worked in both transparent and opaque colour on a surface of European or Chinese paper, as well as silk, ivory and pith 2 . The paintings exhibited in Guangzhou date from the second half of the eighteenth century, the V&A possessing very few from the first half of the century. The subjects include boats, trades, birds, flowers, insects, musical instruments, merchants, tea and silk production, and porcelain manufacture. Out of the ''One Hundred Occupations'' series, an important part of the collection, 53 were selected, illustrating the trades and occupations of Canton. They were acquired in 1898, not for their artistic content, but as pictorial documentation of the ''industrial arts'' 3 . The variety of street activities and traders that could be seen at the time are illustrated- including cobblers, wok-menders, dumpling-sellers, glass grinders, porcelain repairers and street theatre performers. Out of the V&A''s collection of 50 boat paintings, 30 were selected for exhibition. They illustrate the great variety of mainly riverboats in use in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Transport by river and sea was the most important means of connecting Ghangdong Province with other coastal cities of China. There were many shipyards in port cities such as Guangzhou and so boats were a popular subject matter. They were named according to their shape, function, place of origin or the cargo they carried. The Duck Boat (figure 1) was used to transport ducks whilst the Flower Boats, a euphemism for floating brothels, were elegantly decorated boats moored permanently, with Pimp Boats that ferried the clients to and fro. The paintings of the ''One Hundred Occupations'' were executed on thin, good quality Chinese xuan paper, made from the fibre of the ''than'' tree. It was first sized with alum and animal glue and after drying, brushed with a lead white (lead sulphide) ground. The images of the traders were traced from other copies or copybooks, possibly with a metal stylus. The outlines were filled in with colour and details added later. Figure 1. Duck boat, watercolour on paper. Museum no. 8655:28 (click image for larger version) When the paintings were removed from their poor quality mounts, Chinese inscriptions at the bottom of each sheet were discovered. Large areas of the paper that had been masked by the mounts revealed that the white lead carbonate ground had become blackened. A decision was made to treat some of the most disfigured areas. The Gortex™ and hydrogen peroxide method was used to alter the black lead white back to white 4 . The most damaged of these paintings were lined with a thin kozo Japanese mulberry paper, while others where flattened to remove creases and indentations caused from previous mounting methods. The boat pictures were painted in gouache-type colours (pigment bound with animal glue and some colours mixed with lead white) onto a very thin Chinese bamboo paper. Due to the fragile nature of the paper and losses and tears to the edges of the sheets caused by inappropriate mounting methods some 50 or 60 years ago, it was decided to line each painting. The colours used in the paintings were extremely sensitive to water and so, to minimise risk to the work, a treatment programme was devised to control the amount of water used in the various processes. The procedure involved flattening, removing discolouration, lining, drying and pressing between felts and boards. The lining was later trimmed down to approximately 5 centimetres and the paintings hinged into new mounts. Sixty paintings depicting birds, insects and plants were exhibited. Botanical subjects represent an important category in Chinese export painting. The V&A collection of flora painting spans the period between 1770 and 1840, and the exhibition presented the opportunity for some of them to be studied by the South China Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The flora paintings were produced primarily for technical study in a standard format, to include the subject with branch, leaves and blossoms. These paintings, categorised as belonging to the ''yuanti'' (Academy) style 5 , were produced by traditionally-trained artists. Whilst it is thought some guidance may have been received from the European customers in rendering the subjects as true to life as possible, they still contain elements that are inherently native, thus embracing aspects of both western and Chinese traditional painting. They combine native vegetable colours such as indigo and madder red, and mineral colours, including azurite blue, malachite green, cinnabar red, and lead white. Although many botanical paintings in the collection are on Chinese paper, there are a number on watermarked paper made in England by J. Whatman and dated 1812 and 1821. Subject matter such as porcelain manufacture, tea growing and harvesting, and silk production was often produced in sets of 12 or more sheets and these were very popular between 1785 and 1820. The loan included a set of 12 paintings depicting tea production (figure 2), 20 paintings of porcelain manufacture, and a set of 16 watercolours illustrating the stages of silk production. Figure 2. Transporting tea by river, watercolour on paper. Museum no. D.355-1894 (click image for larger version) The porcelain manufacture paintings are executed with gouache-type colours on to a xuan paper prepared with a ground of lead white, alum and animal glue. Some areas are glazed, possibly with vegetable gums, to add depth and richness to the paintings. Several steps of the manufacturing process are often depicted on one sheet. Each painting has been pasted onto a secondary support of coarse, open-weave canvas. The sides of the painting and the protruding canvas were bound with strips of marbled paper (Extra & Spanish Drag pattern 1850-1890), often extending over the edge of the painting. There is clear evidence from the pattern of dirt and damage that these paintings were removed from strainers and may previously have been displayed as framed pictures. Underneath the marbled paper was a painted blue border 1.5 centimetres wide on the canvas framing the painting. This is more in keeping with other contemporary export paintings, such as pith paintings, which generally have borders of blue silk, or paintings of similar subject matter and technique incorporated into wallpaper schemes like those at Saltram House in Devon. I have also seen a set pasted similarly onto canvas and fixed onto wooden strainers with paper mache frames. It could be that they were prepared this way in Canton, since after 1780 many of the water-colourists also painted in oils, and so straining up canvas on a stretcher would have been a familiar technique. Most of these paintings were in fair condition, but in the past had been displayed unglazed. They were dulled by ingrained and surface dirt which, after removal with chemical sponge and soft grated erasers, revealed blue skies, pink sunsets and green leafy landscapes. The paintings of silk, tea and porcelain manufacture are interesting in that they are accurate in their depiction of technical detail, but are set in fanciful and idyllic surroundings far removed from the realities of where they would have been produced. Porcelain, for example, was manufactured in a town five hundred miles north of Canton. Perhaps the artists wished to present an idealised setting in order to appeal to the European imagination. The majority of the paintings underwent some conservation treatment and all were remounted. In the museum''s large exhibition space, they were displayed in cases without frames using simple Perspex clips to hold them in place. The curators and technical staff were all extremely helpful and generous. Indeed, on the first day of installation it seemed as if the whole museum staff was inside the long wall-cases, measuring and fixing. The display system, however, was uncomplicated and the exhibition was installed smoothly. Before the opening, we were treated to a day''s excursion with colleagues from the Guangzhou Museum of Art, Macau University and the Chinese University in Hong Kong. We boarded a boat and travelled the old trade route along the Pearl River! The opening of the exhibition was celebrated in grand style with ribbon cutting, firecrackers, streamers, speeches and gifts, followed by a series of lectures and a lavish banquet of many courses. The magnificent exhibition catalogue brings together scholarship from the V&A, the Guangzhou Museum of Art, the Guangzhou Museum, Sun Yat Sen University and the South China Institute of Botany. The exhibition curator was Ming Wilson from the V&A Asian Department. It was organised by the V&A, the Guangzhou Cultural Bureau and the British Council, and was sponsored by Swire Properties Ltd, Cathay Pacific Airways, and Mr and Mrs Edwin Davies OBE. The exhibition was the first joint venture between the V&A and the Ghuangzhou Museum and was met with great enthusiasm. The Guangzhou Museum sees it as a landmark in their activities and it is hoped that it may encourage further exchanges between the two museums in the future. References 1. The term only came into use after 1949. Wilson, Ming, Bridging China & The West - Chinese Export Art in the V&A 2. The inner pith of the tree Trexapanx Papyrifera (in Chinese ''Tongacao'') and frequently incorrectly called ''rice paper'' 3. Clunas, Craig, Chinese Export Watercolours, V&A Publications, 1984 4. Derbyshire, Alan, Hydrogen Peroxide and Gortex TM . Paper Conservation News, No 67, 1993 5. An organisation producing paintings for the Song Dynasty (960-1279). It stressed the importance of form-likeness and included paintings in imitation. Yin, Chen, Guangzhou Museum of Art Exhibition Catalogue pp64-69   « Less

A Lithograph of Ancient Greek Kylix, Circa 1883 Each lithograph depict Greek ceramic vessels after drawings by A Genick. These illustrate Kylix, or  More »

A Lithograph of Ancient Greek Kylix, Circa 1883 Each lithograph depict Greek ceramic vessels after drawings by A Genick. These illustrate Kylix, or "symposium-vases", so named because they show up often in vase representations of symposia. They are drinking cups. From the folio: GRIECHISCHE KERAMIK XL Tal feln Ausgewahlt und Aufgenommex von A. Genick This was published in Berlin in 1883 Reference: http://mkatz.web.wesleyan.edu/vases/vase_shapes.html Dimensions: 23 1/4" x 32 1/8"   « Less

A Lithograph of Ancient Greek Kylix, Circa 1883 Each lithograph depict Greek ceramic vessels after drawings by A Genick. These illustrate Kylix, or  More »

A Lithograph of Ancient Greek Kylix, Circa 1883 Each lithograph depict Greek ceramic vessels after drawings by A Genick. These illustrate Kylix, or "symposium-vases", so named because they show up often in vase representations of symposia. They are drinking cups. From the folio: GRIECHISCHE KERAMIK XL Tal feln Ausgewahlt und Aufgenommex von A. Genick This was published in Berlin in 1883 Dimensions: 23 1/4" x 32 1/8" Reference: http://mkatz.web.wesleyan.edu/vases/vase_shapes.html   « Less

An English Marquetry Picture of a Ship, Circa 1800-20 Perhaps a prison ship

An English Marquetry Picture of a Ship, Circa 1800-20 Perhaps a prison ship   « Less

A Fine Portrait Miniature of Anna Maria Nickel as "Flora" and her eldest son Johann Heinrich Nickel as a boy, After The Janssens original called Allegory of  More »

A Fine Portrait Miniature of Anna Maria Nickel as "Flora" and her eldest son Johann Heinrich Nickel as a boy, After The Janssens original called Allegory of Spring, by Franz Nickel (1783-1845) The miniature is painted in an Old Master style possibly after an actual painting. ;She is sitting with a bouquet of flowers in her right hand which rests upon a red cushion with her left hand retrieving a pink rose from a wicker basket by her right side. ;She wears an ornate hat covered with live flowers. In the background is a rural landscape of a field and woods beyond. ;A theatrical curtain crosses behind her. ;Her young son is draped across her right arm with his arm resting on her exposed breast. On the backing board are two old labels. ;One is now almost completely missing with the words Flora mi Anor(?) and a second which reads.....Franz Nichel (1783-1845) Dimensions: Miniature: 6 3/4 inches x 5 3/4 inches On an attached sheet a family history which reads as follows- "Allegorial Picture of Anna Maria Nickel as "Flora" and her eldest son Johann Heinrich Nickel as boy painted on Ivory by her husband Franz Nickel (1783-1845) Son: ;Johann Heinrich Nchel Daughter Maria Canthal nee Nickel Granddaughter: Emy Engelhard nee Canthal Greatgrandson: Charles W. Engelhard Greatgreatgranddaughters: Mary Suzan Engelhard Sophie Jane ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;" Sally Alexandra ; ; ; ;" Charline Barry ; ; ; ; ;" ;" Provenance: ;Mrs. Charles Engelhard Reference: The Miniature in Europe, Vol II, Leo R. Schidlof, page 590. Franz Nickel Born in Hanou 25th December 1783, died in the same town 1845. ;Painted on enamel, who worked in Hanau and in Madrid, where he was for a long time assistant at the Academy. Nickel was an artist of quality. ; ABRAHAM JANSSEN II (Antwerp 1616 - after 1668) ;Allegory of Spring Oil on panel 48 ½ x 36 ¾ in. (123.2 x 93.3 cm.) Provenance: ;Anon. sale, Lepke, Berlin, 8 May 1906; with F. Gurlitt, Berlin. Literature: ;To be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of works by Abraham Janssen the Elder currently being prepared by Dr. Joost Vander Auwera (to be published in 2005). Iconographically the voluptuous female in this Allegory of Spring appears to be a combination of two goddesses, Venus and Flora. The ancient Italian goddess of flowers, Flora was the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Chloris, wife of Zephyr, the west wind of springtime, who begets flowers. ;The depiction here corresponds quite closely to the description given in Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia of 1603. Ripa writes that Flora could be used to represent Spring, citing a description from Ovid’s Metamorphoses: ‘Crowned with flowers and surrounded by white, red and yellow blooms, her beautiful face was rosy and milky in complexion, her teeth like pearls and her lips like coral.’11 ‘Di rose, e latte, è la sua faccia e bella, son perle i denti, e le labra coralli.’; op. cit., Rome, 1603, New York, 1984 ed., p. 474. The inclusion of Cupid suggests the figure might also be identifiable as Venus, the goddess of love. Ripa refers to the ‘lascivi amori’ of spring, and the suggestive way in which Cupid touches her breast makes explicit the sensuality associated with this season. Until recently this Allegory of Spring was considered the work of Abraham Janssen van Nuyssen the Elder (c.1571/75-1632), one of the leading artists in Antwerp in the early seventeenth-century. Now, however, an attribution to his son and pupil Abraham Janssen II ; ;(1616 - after 1668) may be advanced. Janssen the Younger’s artistic personality has only begun to emerge in recent years and will be covered in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of works by Abraham Janssen the Elder currently being prepared by Dr. Joost Vander Auwera.22 To be published in 2005 by Brepols Publishers, Turnhout and Macmillan, London. ;Like his father, Abraham Janssen the Younger visited Rome (1639-1649), where he was able to study antique sculpture and the art of Michelangelo and Raphael. Significantly however, he visited Italy a generation later than his father and he did not adopt the latter’s sculptural or even Caravaggesque approach to the human figure. He chose instead to work in the more elegant, pictorial idiom that had come to prevail in northern Europe under the influence of Rubens and van Dyck.33 This shift from the Caravaggesque idiom to the Rubensian mode can be seen clearly in the art of Gerard Seghers. The starting point for the reconstruction of Janssen the Younger’s oeuvre is the Adoration of the Magi in the parish church of St. Wilmart, in the small village of Lesve near Profondeville in the Belgian Ardennes. This canvas is signed ‘A Janssen’ and dated ‘1636’, i.e. four years after the death of Janssen senior, and has thus been securely attributed to his son by Vander Auwera. Although Janssen also had a daughter, Anna Maria, who was a painter in her own right, her signed works are different in style to the Lesve Adoration.44 The works of Anna Maria, who was the wife of Jan Brueghel the Younger, have, like her brother’s, ;often been confused with those of their father. ;Her oeuvre has also been reconstructed by Dr. Vander Auwera. The Colnaghi Allegory shows some stylistic parallels with this Adoration. The physiognomy of the figure of Cupid is, for example, close to the young attendants of the Magi. It is, however, also true to say that something of Janssen the Elder’s sculptural approach to the human figure can also be detected in our work. It is possible that the flowers in our painting are by Anna Maria, who painted a number of signed still lifes.55 See, for example, the still life formerly with P. de Boer (J de Maere & M. Wabbes, Illustrated Dictionary of 17th-century Flemish Painters, Brussels, 1994, II, p. 649). Autographed works by Janssen the Younger such as this and the Lesve painting are rare. They probably date to the years 1636-39, that is, after the artist had become a master of the Antwerp guild and set up his own studio, and before his departure for Italy in 1639. His style at this time seems to have been influenced by contemporary artistic developments in Paris, where the art dealing family of his father’s wife, the Goetkint (also known as Bonenfants), was very much involved in the Saint Germain fair. The Lesve painting, for example, is stylistically close to an Adoration of the Magi of c.1626-29 attributed to Georges Lallemand (c.1575-1636), an artist from Lorraine working in Paris.66 Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille, inv. no. P 322. His earlier works also recall those of Pieter Van Lint (1609-1690), who may have taught Janssen after his father’s death in 1632. A number of versions closely related to our picture are also known, something that attests to the popularity of the composition.77 These include: one at Lepke, Berlin, 13 April 1908, lot 116 (as Flemish School; oil on canvas); another sold, with an Allegory of Autumn, Sotheby’s, New York, 14 October 1992, lot 104, as attributed to Janssen I; and two works recorded at the Witt Library, London, one in Mainz, the other in the Acton Collection, Florence. In the Berlin and Acton compositions, Venus’s breast is covered. It is likely that it also once formed part of a series depicting the Four Seasons – many such series were probably produced in the studio of Janssen the Elder, and then later in the workshop that his son ran following his return from Italy in 1649. A number of compositions of comparable dimensions and with similar three-quarter-length female figures depicting other seasons of the year are known.88 Among these are: an Allegory of Autumn (sold, Christie’s, New York, 31 May 1991, lot 46, as Abraham Janssen I); an Allegory of Spring (a different composition to our work) and an Allegory of Summer (sold, Christie’s, New York, 16 January 1992, lot 31, as circle of Janssen); and another Allegory of Spring (again different to ours), offered for sale, Deurbergue and Delvaux, Paris, 15 November 1991, lot 12, as Abraham Janssen I and Jan Breughel II. ; ; ;   « Less

A FINE SHELLWORK PICTURE, Circa 1820-40. The rectangular picture with a central reserve depicting naval objects including flags, drums, anchors, medals and cannon, all  More »

A FINE SHELLWORK PICTURE, Circa 1820-40. The rectangular picture with a central reserve depicting naval objects including flags, drums, anchors, medals and cannon, all depicted with tiny shell seeds. ;The surround also in shells in the form of columns. ;Along the foot are applied paper figures including the Gin Woman, Englishman, Almanacks, Live Lobsters and other figures. ;Dimensions: 24 x 21 1/2 inches   « Less

A French Shellwork Picture of Flowers, Circa 1840-60 The shells mounted on a gilt plaque in the form of flowers and leaves. ;The plaque within a wood shadow box.  More »

A French Shellwork Picture of Flowers, Circa 1840-60 The shells mounted on a gilt plaque in the form of flowers and leaves. ;The plaque within a wood shadow box. Dimensions: 13 1/2 inches x 12 inches   « Less

A FINE LARGE WATERCOLOR PICTURE OF THE BELLEROPHON, DATED 1855 The large picture depicts the Bellerophon sailing out to sea past South Sea Castle off Spithead. ;Figures  More »

A FINE LARGE WATERCOLOR PICTURE OF THE BELLEROPHON, DATED 1855 The large picture depicts the Bellerophon sailing out to sea past South Sea Castle off Spithead. ;Figures can be seen on board. ;She flies the Blue Ensign, a Union Jack and the Royal Standard. South Sea Castle is to her left and land with a row of houses on the right. An inscription below reads: ---The Bellerophon 74 Sailing OFF South Sea Castle 1855--- Dimensions: ;24 in x 18 in (60.9 cm x 45.7 cm) Bellerophon: ;A Greek hero who, with the help of the winged horse Pegasus slew the monster Chimaera Bellerophon: "Common" 74 gun 3rd Rate. Based on HMS Dublin of 1755, a total of 14 ships of the Bellerophon class were built, and a total of 93 "Common" class vessels were built in all. Reference: 1st Name: Talavera 1809 2nd Name: Waterloo 3rd Name: Bellerophon 1856 Built: 1809 Type: Originally Wooden Wall Naval Classification: Central Battery Ironclad 2nd/3rd Rate 80 guns (two-deckers) Dimensions: Length 159'' 10", Beam 49'', Draught 21'' Tons: 2041 Guns: Gun deck 30 x 32 lb pdrs, Upper deck 32 x 18 lb pdrs, Quarter deck 4 x 12 lb pdrs + 10 x 32 lb pdrs Forecastle Round House, 2 x 12 lb pdrs, 2 x 32 lb pdrs. Crew: 650 Port of Registration: Chatham Royal Naval Dockyard, Kent Service: Naval Service 1855 Hulked 1856 Became a receiving ship at Portsmouth Royal Navy Dockyard 1892 Seagoing service ended 1892 Survived until 1922 at Chatham Royal Navy Dockyard Mr Timothy Akers MA, B.Sc (Hon''s) Maritime Research Archaeologist. An Account of the Fitting out of H.M.S. "Bellerophon." — This affords a brilliant example of what can be done in the Navy, when a ship''s company are commanded by officers possessing the requisite union of due seamanlike and administrative qualities, and I give it as a high standard by which all such may be measured, and as an appropriate pendant to the first section of our subject. On March 7th, 1847, orders were unexpectedly received for the 90-gun ships "Rodney", Captain Edward Collier, C.B., and "Albion", Captain Nicholas Lockyer, C.B., to fit out, respectively, the "Bellerophon" 78, and the "Calcutta" 84, then lying up in ordinary, the former in Portsmouth, and the latter in Plymouth harbour. These ships, in common with all the "advanced" ships in ordinary, had their lower masts, gun-carriages, chain cables, (in 12-fathom lengths), stowed in the tiers, and the lower tier of water-tanks on board; which state the "Bellerophon" was in when the "Rodney''s" commenced work Monday morning, March 9th. On the same evening the topmasts were fidded, and mizen top-gallant-mast pointed. By Tuesday evening the top-gallant-masts were fidded, running gear rove, and sails bent. At half-past ten on Wednesday morning she hauled off from the jetty, and that evening saw her at Spithead with three months'' provisions and stores on board, awaiting orders to proceed to sea. The ship''s company went ashore every evening, and had their full time for meals every day; and thus a line-of-battle ship was fitted out for a three months'' cruise, in every way ready to engage an enemy, in thirty working hours. H.R.H. Prince Albert having visited the ship, and expressed his admiration of the skill and energy exhibited in the accomplishment of so unexampled a result, she was dismantled and returned again into ordinary. Alfred Henry Alston: Seamanship, and its associated duties in the Royal Navy. By Lieut A.H. Alston, R.N. Together with a treatise on Nautical Surveying, for the use in of the officers on general service. With two hundred illustration. Routledge, Warne, & Routledge, London, 1860. pp 159-160. Transcribed by Lars.Bruzelius@udac.se The Maritime History Virtual Archives | Seamanship.   « Less

An English Portrait Miniature of a Gentleman, On Board, Circa 1820-35. The rectangular miniature painted on board depicts a country gentleman in profile wearing a brown  More »

An English Portrait Miniature of a Gentleman, On Board, Circa 1820-35. The rectangular miniature painted on board depicts a country gentleman in profile wearing a brown jacket with brass buttons and a white shirt and white cravat. ;His hair recedes in the front and is curly. ;He wears long side burns to below his ears.. ;The portrait is painted within a darker oval with olive green to the outer edge. The portrait is in a wood frame. Dimensions: 7 1/4 x 6 3/4 inches   « Less

AN ENGLISH STUMPWORK AND SILK PICTURE OF A PARROT, Circa 1845. The picture depicts a stumpwork parrot on a moire ground which is decorated with entwined stems of tea  More »

AN ENGLISH STUMPWORK AND SILK PICTURE OF A PARROT, Circa 1845. The picture depicts a stumpwork parrot on a moire ground which is decorated with entwined stems of tea roses, fuchsia, convolvulus and blossoms in silk, all within an original maple frame. ;The colours are bright and attractive. ;There are some tears in the moire, unfortunately, as this type of design was somewhat impractical with the weight of the stumpwork typically pulling on the background. ;All within maple frame. Dimensions: 21 1/2 inches high x 21 7/16 inches wide.   « Less