'The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast': PD.120-1973.f.5

Materials used in production

Watercolour
Gold paint
Graphite
Gum arabic

Components of the work

Support composed of wove paper
Leaf Height 526 mm Width 366 mm

Techniques used in production

Watercolour : Watercolour and gum Arabic with gold over traces of graphite on wove paper

Inscription or legends present

• Text: And there came the Moth, with his Plumage of Down. / And the Hornet in Jacket of Yellow and Brown; / Who with him the Wasp, his Companion, did bring, / But they promis'd that Evening to lay by their Sting. / Then the sly little Dormouse crept out of his Hole, / And led to the Feast his blind Brother the Mole, / And the Snail with his Horns peeping out of his Shell. / Came fatigu'd with the Distance, the Length of an Ell. / A Mushroom their Table, and on it was laid, / A Waterdock Leaf, which a Table-cloth made. / The Viands were various, to each of their Taste, / And the Bee brought her honey to crown the Repast.
• Location: Recto
• Method of creation: Brown ink

Identification numbers

Accession number: PD.120-1973.f.5
Primary reference Number: 80495
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Monday 3 August 2020 Last processed: Friday 8 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Paintings, Drawings and Prints