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IN BLOOM at the Ashmolean Museum

An entrance like no other.

Tumbling and climbing roses sweep across the museum’s historic façade, framing the front of the building in movement, abundance and quiet drama.

Composed entirely of silk botanicals, the installation examines the relationship between nature and permanence — translating the fleeting beauty of flowers into an enduring, immersive form.

A study in abundance.
A commitment to sustainability.
A reimagining of what floristry can be.

Every stem thoughtfully repurposed after use.
Zero waste, maximum impact.

Created in collaboration with @ashmoleanmuseum

#ashmoleanmuseum #floralinstallation #eventflorist #inbloom #luxuryflorist

Thanks to my team @middlemen_logistics @pikaflowersuk @pollyandpetal@car_flowers_ @flowerchild_and_co

📣 In Bloom: How Plants Change Our World is now open.

★ ★ ★ ★
The Guardian

"There's much to savour"
The Telegraph

🏛️ Ashmolean Members go for free with no need to book.
🌿 Visit the link in our bio to start planning your visit.

🎵 Eric Sutherland

🌷🌿 Tickets are now available for In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World.

Beyond their beauty, many plants and flowers have hidden histories – tales of exploration, obsession, and knowledge.

📆 Opening 19 March 2026, this major new exhibition will take you from Oxford to the farthest corners of the world and back, uncovering the global stories behind some of Britain’s most beloved blooms – from roses and tulips to camellias and peonies.

🏛️ Ashmolean Members enjoy unlimited free exhibition entry with no need to book.

💐 A Vase of Flowers, Simon Verelst, c. 1669–1675, oil on canvas.
🎨 Orchids, Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema, 1879, oil on panel © Private Collection, USA. Photo courtesy of the Richard Green Gallery, London
🩷 Duncan Grant, Hollyhock, Charleston, Kate Friend, 2019, C-type print. Courtesy of the artist & Lyndsey Ingram

🌷🌿 Tickets are now available for In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World.

Beyond their beauty, many plants and flowers have hidden histories – tales of exploration, obsession, and knowledge.

📆 Opening 19 March 2026, this major new exhibition will take you from Oxford to the farthest corners of the world and back, uncovering the global stories behind some of Britain’s most beloved blooms – from roses and tulips to camellias and peonies.

🏛️ Ashmolean Members enjoy unlimited free exhibition entry with no need to book.

💐 A Vase of Flowers, Simon Verelst, c. 1669–1675, oil on canvas.
🎨 Orchids, Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema, 1879, oil on panel © Private Collection, USA. Photo courtesy of the Richard Green Gallery, London
🩷 Duncan Grant, Hollyhock, Charleston, Kate Friend, 2019, C-type print. Courtesy of the artist & Lyndsey Ingram

🌷🌿 Tickets are now available for In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World.

Beyond their beauty, many plants and flowers have hidden histories – tales of exploration, obsession, and knowledge.

📆 Opening 19 March 2026, this major new exhibition will take you from Oxford to the farthest corners of the world and back, uncovering the global stories behind some of Britain’s most beloved blooms – from roses and tulips to camellias and peonies.

🏛️ Ashmolean Members enjoy unlimited free exhibition entry with no need to book.

💐 A Vase of Flowers, Simon Verelst, c. 1669–1675, oil on canvas.
🎨 Orchids, Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema, 1879, oil on panel © Private Collection, USA. Photo courtesy of the Richard Green Gallery, London
🩷 Duncan Grant, Hollyhock, Charleston, Kate Friend, 2019, C-type print. Courtesy of the artist & Lyndsey Ingram

To celebrate this year’s Chelsea Flower Show we are sharing a selection of blooms from our current major exhibition, In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World.

Do you have a favourite?

To purchase tickets for the exhibition and see these artworks in person, click on the link in our bio.

🌻 Annual sunflower (Helianthus annuus), Everard Kick & Daniel Frankcom, from the Florilegium, commissioned by Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, 1703, bound volume with watercolours © The Duke and Duchess of Beaufort, Badminton Estate, Gloucestershire

💙 The Blue Passion Flower (Passiflora caerulea), James Caldwell after Philip Reinagle, from Robert J. Thornton’s The Temple of Flora 1798–1810, bound volume with coloured engravings © The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford,CR.L.50, p.247

🌷A Vase of Flowers, c.1609, Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573–1621). Oil on copper, 37.5 x 26.9 cm. WA1940.2.15

🩷 Duncan Grant, Hollyhock, Charleston, Kate Friend, 2019, C-type print. Courtesy of the artist & Lyndsey Ingram

🍌 Banana blossom with life stages of the Bullseye moth, illustration from 'Metamorphosis of Surinam's Insects', by Maria Sibylla Merian, 1726, coloured engraving © Bodleian Libraries

🦋 A 'Forest Floor' Still Life of Flowers, 1687 Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750). Oil on canvas, 47 x 40 cm. WA1940.2.64

🌿 Spotted Arum (Arum dioscoridis), Ferdinand Bauer, 1788-1794, watercolour on paper for John Sibthorps’s Flora Graeca © Sherardian Library, Bodleian Libraries, MS. Sherard 245, fol. 56

💛 Study of a Yellow Rose, Rory McEwen, 1977, watercolour on vellum © Rory McEwen, courtesy of the Shirley Sherwood Collection

@the_rhs #ChelseaFlowerShow

To celebrate this year’s Chelsea Flower Show we are sharing a selection of blooms from our current major exhibition, In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World.

Do you have a favourite?

To purchase tickets for the exhibition and see these artworks in person, click on the link in our bio.

🌻 Annual sunflower (Helianthus annuus), Everard Kick & Daniel Frankcom, from the Florilegium, commissioned by Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, 1703, bound volume with watercolours © The Duke and Duchess of Beaufort, Badminton Estate, Gloucestershire

💙 The Blue Passion Flower (Passiflora caerulea), James Caldwell after Philip Reinagle, from Robert J. Thornton’s The Temple of Flora 1798–1810, bound volume with coloured engravings © The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford,CR.L.50, p.247

🌷A Vase of Flowers, c.1609, Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573–1621). Oil on copper, 37.5 x 26.9 cm. WA1940.2.15

🩷 Duncan Grant, Hollyhock, Charleston, Kate Friend, 2019, C-type print. Courtesy of the artist & Lyndsey Ingram

🍌 Banana blossom with life stages of the Bullseye moth, illustration from 'Metamorphosis of Surinam's Insects', by Maria Sibylla Merian, 1726, coloured engraving © Bodleian Libraries

🦋 A 'Forest Floor' Still Life of Flowers, 1687 Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750). Oil on canvas, 47 x 40 cm. WA1940.2.64

🌿 Spotted Arum (Arum dioscoridis), Ferdinand Bauer, 1788-1794, watercolour on paper for John Sibthorps’s Flora Graeca © Sherardian Library, Bodleian Libraries, MS. Sherard 245, fol. 56

💛 Study of a Yellow Rose, Rory McEwen, 1977, watercolour on vellum © Rory McEwen, courtesy of the Shirley Sherwood Collection

@the_rhs #ChelseaFlowerShow

To celebrate this year’s Chelsea Flower Show we are sharing a selection of blooms from our current major exhibition, In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World.

Do you have a favourite?

To purchase tickets for the exhibition and see these artworks in person, click on the link in our bio.

🌻 Annual sunflower (Helianthus annuus), Everard Kick & Daniel Frankcom, from the Florilegium, commissioned by Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, 1703, bound volume with watercolours © The Duke and Duchess of Beaufort, Badminton Estate, Gloucestershire

💙 The Blue Passion Flower (Passiflora caerulea), James Caldwell after Philip Reinagle, from Robert J. Thornton’s The Temple of Flora 1798–1810, bound volume with coloured engravings © The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford,CR.L.50, p.247

🌷A Vase of Flowers, c.1609, Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573–1621). Oil on copper, 37.5 x 26.9 cm. WA1940.2.15

🩷 Duncan Grant, Hollyhock, Charleston, Kate Friend, 2019, C-type print. Courtesy of the artist & Lyndsey Ingram

🍌 Banana blossom with life stages of the Bullseye moth, illustration from 'Metamorphosis of Surinam's Insects', by Maria Sibylla Merian, 1726, coloured engraving © Bodleian Libraries

🦋 A 'Forest Floor' Still Life of Flowers, 1687 Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750). Oil on canvas, 47 x 40 cm. WA1940.2.64

🌿 Spotted Arum (Arum dioscoridis), Ferdinand Bauer, 1788-1794, watercolour on paper for John Sibthorps’s Flora Graeca © Sherardian Library, Bodleian Libraries, MS. Sherard 245, fol. 56

💛 Study of a Yellow Rose, Rory McEwen, 1977, watercolour on vellum © Rory McEwen, courtesy of the Shirley Sherwood Collection

@the_rhs #ChelseaFlowerShow

To celebrate this year’s Chelsea Flower Show we are sharing a selection of blooms from our current major exhibition, In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World.

Do you have a favourite?

To purchase tickets for the exhibition and see these artworks in person, click on the link in our bio.

🌻 Annual sunflower (Helianthus annuus), Everard Kick & Daniel Frankcom, from the Florilegium, commissioned by Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, 1703, bound volume with watercolours © The Duke and Duchess of Beaufort, Badminton Estate, Gloucestershire

💙 The Blue Passion Flower (Passiflora caerulea), James Caldwell after Philip Reinagle, from Robert J. Thornton’s The Temple of Flora 1798–1810, bound volume with coloured engravings © The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford,CR.L.50, p.247

🌷A Vase of Flowers, c.1609, Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573–1621). Oil on copper, 37.5 x 26.9 cm. WA1940.2.15

🩷 Duncan Grant, Hollyhock, Charleston, Kate Friend, 2019, C-type print. Courtesy of the artist & Lyndsey Ingram

🍌 Banana blossom with life stages of the Bullseye moth, illustration from 'Metamorphosis of Surinam's Insects', by Maria Sibylla Merian, 1726, coloured engraving © Bodleian Libraries

🦋 A 'Forest Floor' Still Life of Flowers, 1687 Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750). Oil on canvas, 47 x 40 cm. WA1940.2.64

🌿 Spotted Arum (Arum dioscoridis), Ferdinand Bauer, 1788-1794, watercolour on paper for John Sibthorps’s Flora Graeca © Sherardian Library, Bodleian Libraries, MS. Sherard 245, fol. 56

💛 Study of a Yellow Rose, Rory McEwen, 1977, watercolour on vellum © Rory McEwen, courtesy of the Shirley Sherwood Collection

@the_rhs #ChelseaFlowerShow

To celebrate this year’s Chelsea Flower Show we are sharing a selection of blooms from our current major exhibition, In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World.

Do you have a favourite?

To purchase tickets for the exhibition and see these artworks in person, click on the link in our bio.

🌻 Annual sunflower (Helianthus annuus), Everard Kick & Daniel Frankcom, from the Florilegium, commissioned by Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, 1703, bound volume with watercolours © The Duke and Duchess of Beaufort, Badminton Estate, Gloucestershire

💙 The Blue Passion Flower (Passiflora caerulea), James Caldwell after Philip Reinagle, from Robert J. Thornton’s The Temple of Flora 1798–1810, bound volume with coloured engravings © The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford,CR.L.50, p.247

🌷A Vase of Flowers, c.1609, Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573–1621). Oil on copper, 37.5 x 26.9 cm. WA1940.2.15

🩷 Duncan Grant, Hollyhock, Charleston, Kate Friend, 2019, C-type print. Courtesy of the artist & Lyndsey Ingram

🍌 Banana blossom with life stages of the Bullseye moth, illustration from 'Metamorphosis of Surinam's Insects', by Maria Sibylla Merian, 1726, coloured engraving © Bodleian Libraries

🦋 A 'Forest Floor' Still Life of Flowers, 1687 Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750). Oil on canvas, 47 x 40 cm. WA1940.2.64

🌿 Spotted Arum (Arum dioscoridis), Ferdinand Bauer, 1788-1794, watercolour on paper for John Sibthorps’s Flora Graeca © Sherardian Library, Bodleian Libraries, MS. Sherard 245, fol. 56

💛 Study of a Yellow Rose, Rory McEwen, 1977, watercolour on vellum © Rory McEwen, courtesy of the Shirley Sherwood Collection

@the_rhs #ChelseaFlowerShow

To celebrate this year’s Chelsea Flower Show we are sharing a selection of blooms from our current major exhibition, In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World.

Do you have a favourite?

To purchase tickets for the exhibition and see these artworks in person, click on the link in our bio.

🌻 Annual sunflower (Helianthus annuus), Everard Kick & Daniel Frankcom, from the Florilegium, commissioned by Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, 1703, bound volume with watercolours © The Duke and Duchess of Beaufort, Badminton Estate, Gloucestershire

💙 The Blue Passion Flower (Passiflora caerulea), James Caldwell after Philip Reinagle, from Robert J. Thornton’s The Temple of Flora 1798–1810, bound volume with coloured engravings © The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford,CR.L.50, p.247

🌷A Vase of Flowers, c.1609, Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573–1621). Oil on copper, 37.5 x 26.9 cm. WA1940.2.15

🩷 Duncan Grant, Hollyhock, Charleston, Kate Friend, 2019, C-type print. Courtesy of the artist & Lyndsey Ingram

🍌 Banana blossom with life stages of the Bullseye moth, illustration from 'Metamorphosis of Surinam's Insects', by Maria Sibylla Merian, 1726, coloured engraving © Bodleian Libraries

🦋 A 'Forest Floor' Still Life of Flowers, 1687 Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750). Oil on canvas, 47 x 40 cm. WA1940.2.64

🌿 Spotted Arum (Arum dioscoridis), Ferdinand Bauer, 1788-1794, watercolour on paper for John Sibthorps’s Flora Graeca © Sherardian Library, Bodleian Libraries, MS. Sherard 245, fol. 56

💛 Study of a Yellow Rose, Rory McEwen, 1977, watercolour on vellum © Rory McEwen, courtesy of the Shirley Sherwood Collection

@the_rhs #ChelseaFlowerShow

To celebrate this year’s Chelsea Flower Show we are sharing a selection of blooms from our current major exhibition, In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World.

Do you have a favourite?

To purchase tickets for the exhibition and see these artworks in person, click on the link in our bio.

🌻 Annual sunflower (Helianthus annuus), Everard Kick & Daniel Frankcom, from the Florilegium, commissioned by Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, 1703, bound volume with watercolours © The Duke and Duchess of Beaufort, Badminton Estate, Gloucestershire

💙 The Blue Passion Flower (Passiflora caerulea), James Caldwell after Philip Reinagle, from Robert J. Thornton’s The Temple of Flora 1798–1810, bound volume with coloured engravings © The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford,CR.L.50, p.247

🌷A Vase of Flowers, c.1609, Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573–1621). Oil on copper, 37.5 x 26.9 cm. WA1940.2.15

🩷 Duncan Grant, Hollyhock, Charleston, Kate Friend, 2019, C-type print. Courtesy of the artist & Lyndsey Ingram

🍌 Banana blossom with life stages of the Bullseye moth, illustration from 'Metamorphosis of Surinam's Insects', by Maria Sibylla Merian, 1726, coloured engraving © Bodleian Libraries

🦋 A 'Forest Floor' Still Life of Flowers, 1687 Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750). Oil on canvas, 47 x 40 cm. WA1940.2.64

🌿 Spotted Arum (Arum dioscoridis), Ferdinand Bauer, 1788-1794, watercolour on paper for John Sibthorps’s Flora Graeca © Sherardian Library, Bodleian Libraries, MS. Sherard 245, fol. 56

💛 Study of a Yellow Rose, Rory McEwen, 1977, watercolour on vellum © Rory McEwen, courtesy of the Shirley Sherwood Collection

@the_rhs #ChelseaFlowerShow

To celebrate this year’s Chelsea Flower Show we are sharing a selection of blooms from our current major exhibition, In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World.

Do you have a favourite?

To purchase tickets for the exhibition and see these artworks in person, click on the link in our bio.

🌻 Annual sunflower (Helianthus annuus), Everard Kick & Daniel Frankcom, from the Florilegium, commissioned by Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, 1703, bound volume with watercolours © The Duke and Duchess of Beaufort, Badminton Estate, Gloucestershire

💙 The Blue Passion Flower (Passiflora caerulea), James Caldwell after Philip Reinagle, from Robert J. Thornton’s The Temple of Flora 1798–1810, bound volume with coloured engravings © The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford,CR.L.50, p.247

🌷A Vase of Flowers, c.1609, Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573–1621). Oil on copper, 37.5 x 26.9 cm. WA1940.2.15

🩷 Duncan Grant, Hollyhock, Charleston, Kate Friend, 2019, C-type print. Courtesy of the artist & Lyndsey Ingram

🍌 Banana blossom with life stages of the Bullseye moth, illustration from 'Metamorphosis of Surinam's Insects', by Maria Sibylla Merian, 1726, coloured engraving © Bodleian Libraries

🦋 A 'Forest Floor' Still Life of Flowers, 1687 Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750). Oil on canvas, 47 x 40 cm. WA1940.2.64

🌿 Spotted Arum (Arum dioscoridis), Ferdinand Bauer, 1788-1794, watercolour on paper for John Sibthorps’s Flora Graeca © Sherardian Library, Bodleian Libraries, MS. Sherard 245, fol. 56

💛 Study of a Yellow Rose, Rory McEwen, 1977, watercolour on vellum © Rory McEwen, courtesy of the Shirley Sherwood Collection

@the_rhs #ChelseaFlowerShow

We can’t wait to welcome you soon 👋👋

The Ashmolean Museum is home to half a million years of human history and creativity.

We’re open every day, 10am to 5pm and entry is FREE.


🏛️ Visit the link in our bio to start planning your visit.

This little button brooch dates back to the Anglo-Saxon period.

It was found not far from the Museum at Radley Barrow Hills, Radley - the site of an early Anglo-Saxon settlement.

This sort of characterful brooch is nearly always decorated with a human face looking outwards, and is typically found in south-eastern England.

😊 Button brooch with anthropomorphic face, c.480-600 CE. Copper alloy, 2.2 cm diameter. AN1988.47

The fleeting nature of life, in flowers 🌹

Rachel Ruysch created this meticulous still life in 1687.

Known for her intricate and detailed still lifes of flowers, Ruysch achieved international success and became the best documented female painter of the Dutch Golden Age.

Poppies with frayed petals were among the most unusual breeds developed by the Dutch in the 17th century. Their frail, delicate looks meant that they became a symbol of the fleeting nature of life in still life paintings like this one.

🏛️ See this beautiful work on display In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World, open until 16 August.

🎨 A 'Forest Floor' Still Life of Flowers, Rachel Ruysch, 1687, oil on canvas. WA1940.2.64

The fleeting nature of life, in flowers 🌹

Rachel Ruysch created this meticulous still life in 1687.

Known for her intricate and detailed still lifes of flowers, Ruysch achieved international success and became the best documented female painter of the Dutch Golden Age.

Poppies with frayed petals were among the most unusual breeds developed by the Dutch in the 17th century. Their frail, delicate looks meant that they became a symbol of the fleeting nature of life in still life paintings like this one.

🏛️ See this beautiful work on display In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World, open until 16 August.

🎨 A 'Forest Floor' Still Life of Flowers, Rachel Ruysch, 1687, oil on canvas. WA1940.2.64

The fleeting nature of life, in flowers 🌹

Rachel Ruysch created this meticulous still life in 1687.

Known for her intricate and detailed still lifes of flowers, Ruysch achieved international success and became the best documented female painter of the Dutch Golden Age.

Poppies with frayed petals were among the most unusual breeds developed by the Dutch in the 17th century. Their frail, delicate looks meant that they became a symbol of the fleeting nature of life in still life paintings like this one.

🏛️ See this beautiful work on display In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World, open until 16 August.

🎨 A 'Forest Floor' Still Life of Flowers, Rachel Ruysch, 1687, oil on canvas. WA1940.2.64

The fleeting nature of life, in flowers 🌹

Rachel Ruysch created this meticulous still life in 1687.

Known for her intricate and detailed still lifes of flowers, Ruysch achieved international success and became the best documented female painter of the Dutch Golden Age.

Poppies with frayed petals were among the most unusual breeds developed by the Dutch in the 17th century. Their frail, delicate looks meant that they became a symbol of the fleeting nature of life in still life paintings like this one.

🏛️ See this beautiful work on display In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World, open until 16 August.

🎨 A 'Forest Floor' Still Life of Flowers, Rachel Ruysch, 1687, oil on canvas. WA1940.2.64

The fleeting nature of life, in flowers 🌹

Rachel Ruysch created this meticulous still life in 1687.

Known for her intricate and detailed still lifes of flowers, Ruysch achieved international success and became the best documented female painter of the Dutch Golden Age.

Poppies with frayed petals were among the most unusual breeds developed by the Dutch in the 17th century. Their frail, delicate looks meant that they became a symbol of the fleeting nature of life in still life paintings like this one.

🏛️ See this beautiful work on display In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World, open until 16 August.

🎨 A 'Forest Floor' Still Life of Flowers, Rachel Ruysch, 1687, oil on canvas. WA1940.2.64

The fleeting nature of life, in flowers 🌹

Rachel Ruysch created this meticulous still life in 1687.

Known for her intricate and detailed still lifes of flowers, Ruysch achieved international success and became the best documented female painter of the Dutch Golden Age.

Poppies with frayed petals were among the most unusual breeds developed by the Dutch in the 17th century. Their frail, delicate looks meant that they became a symbol of the fleeting nature of life in still life paintings like this one.

🏛️ See this beautiful work on display In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World, open until 16 August.

🎨 A 'Forest Floor' Still Life of Flowers, Rachel Ruysch, 1687, oil on canvas. WA1940.2.64

See this incredible painting by Tintoretto as it was meant to be enjoyed.

The great Venetian Renaissance painter Tintoretto created this imposing work in the 1570s. Depicting the resurrection of Christ, it offers insight into the artist’s creative interpretation of biblical subjects and painterly style. Tintoretto was known for treating religious subjects in exciting and unusual ways.

The painting was altered from its original octagon shape to a rectangle, probably in the 17th century, distorting the intended composition.

Thanks to the generous support of @ampersandfoundation, the painting has been reframed and returned to its original octagonal shape.

Now, for the first time in centuries, you can encounter the artist’s original vision for this work.

📍Italian Renaissance gallery, Level 2

🖌️ The Resurrection of Christ, 1555 - 1573, Tintoretto (1519 - 1594). Oil on canvas, h x w 161 x 153 cm. WA1946.198

#TAFgrant

English portrait and landscape painter Thomas Gainsborough was born on this day in 1727.

Gainsborough was one of the leading portrait painters of the 18th century. In spite of this success, privately he would often express that he preferred painting landscapes, and some of his surviving letters express his frustration at his clients’ demands for portraits.

This portrait features his daughter, Margaret, as a peasant girl. It was originally part of a double portrait depicting both his daughters. The location of the other fragment featuring Mary, is unknown.

See this painting on display in Gallery 52 on Level 2.

🌾 Margaret Gainsborough gleaning, late 1750s, Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788). Oil on canvas, 73 x 63cm. WA1975.72

🍸Today is World Cocktail Day!🍸

What is your tipple of choice?

See this painting on display in Gallery 48, Level 2.

🍸 Still Life with Fruit, c.1929–1930, Daisy Linda Ward (1883–1937). Oil on canvas, 51 x 41 cm. WA1940.2.95

The Welsh artist, designer and printmaker Frank Brangwyn was born on this day in 1867.

Born in Bruges to an architect father who specialised in church furnishings, Brangwyn was profoundly moved by the destruction taking place throughout Belgium during the First World War.

Although never an official war artist, he produced more than 80 poster designs during the conflict. Most of these were donated to charity, but this lithograph formed part of the series ‘The Great War: Britain's Efforts and Ideals’, commissioned in 1917 by the Ministry of Information - the British propaganda department.

In the lithograph, four soldiers fight off a large octopus, at once a very real reminder of the perils of the sea, and a wider call to fight against an encroaching force.

🌊 The Freedom of the Seas, 1917, colour lithograph by Frank Brangwyn (1867–1956). WA1919.31.1

The Welsh artist, designer and printmaker Frank Brangwyn was born on this day in 1867.

Born in Bruges to an architect father who specialised in church furnishings, Brangwyn was profoundly moved by the destruction taking place throughout Belgium during the First World War.

Although never an official war artist, he produced more than 80 poster designs during the conflict. Most of these were donated to charity, but this lithograph formed part of the series ‘The Great War: Britain's Efforts and Ideals’, commissioned in 1917 by the Ministry of Information - the British propaganda department.

In the lithograph, four soldiers fight off a large octopus, at once a very real reminder of the perils of the sea, and a wider call to fight against an encroaching force.

🌊 The Freedom of the Seas, 1917, colour lithograph by Frank Brangwyn (1867–1956). WA1919.31.1

The Welsh artist, designer and printmaker Frank Brangwyn was born on this day in 1867.

Born in Bruges to an architect father who specialised in church furnishings, Brangwyn was profoundly moved by the destruction taking place throughout Belgium during the First World War.

Although never an official war artist, he produced more than 80 poster designs during the conflict. Most of these were donated to charity, but this lithograph formed part of the series ‘The Great War: Britain's Efforts and Ideals’, commissioned in 1917 by the Ministry of Information - the British propaganda department.

In the lithograph, four soldiers fight off a large octopus, at once a very real reminder of the perils of the sea, and a wider call to fight against an encroaching force.

🌊 The Freedom of the Seas, 1917, colour lithograph by Frank Brangwyn (1867–1956). WA1919.31.1

Lobster Tsuba 🦞

Today’s wonderful object is a Japanese tsuba.

The tsuba is a hand guard, placed between the hilt and blade of a Japanese sword. It is intended to protect the hand of the samurai warrior from slipping onto the blade, and also to balance the weight of the sword. Tsuba were used and forged as far back as the 5th century and initially their design was functional and plain.

By the 17th century and through the peaceful Edo Period, the tsuba became much more of an ornamental decorative object and a status symbol for the owner. Nowadays these sword guards are as coveted by collectors as the swords themselves.

🦞Tsuba with lobster, 1840. Shakudō with copper, 6.7 x 6.5 x 1.5 cm. EA1956.2084

Lobster Tsuba 🦞

Today’s wonderful object is a Japanese tsuba.

The tsuba is a hand guard, placed between the hilt and blade of a Japanese sword. It is intended to protect the hand of the samurai warrior from slipping onto the blade, and also to balance the weight of the sword. Tsuba were used and forged as far back as the 5th century and initially their design was functional and plain.

By the 17th century and through the peaceful Edo Period, the tsuba became much more of an ornamental decorative object and a status symbol for the owner. Nowadays these sword guards are as coveted by collectors as the swords themselves.

🦞Tsuba with lobster, 1840. Shakudō with copper, 6.7 x 6.5 x 1.5 cm. EA1956.2084