Accession No

6657

Brief Description

coffee table with botanical drawings on tiles, by Dr W. A. R. Dillon Weston, English, mid 20th Century

Origin

England; Cambridgeshire

Maker

Dillon Weston, W. A. R.

Class

natural history

Earliest Date

1930

Latest Date

1953

Inscription Date

Material

wood; metal; plastic (PVC); glass; ceramic tiles; paper

Dimensions

Table: 700mm (width) x 342mm (depth) x 58mm (height) Legs: 415mm (height)

Special Collection

Dr W. A. R. Dillon Weston Collection

Provenance

Gifted to the museum by Dillon Weston's grandson following the death of Dillon Weston's daughter.

Inscription

Tiles have individual labels; see Description Notes for more information

Description Notes

Coffee table with botanical drawings on tiles, by Dr W. A. R. Dillon Weston, mid 19th century

Home-made coffee table, with four wooden legs (no longer attached). The base of the table is plywood, with a brown PVC plastic border attached to the wooden base with small metal screws. The PVC plastic edges are split and warped. There are 15 ceramic tiles set into the table's surface, covered with a sheet of glass. The ceramic tiles range in size from 100 x 100mm to 150 x 150mm, and are beige or white glazed; there are various paper images (watercolour & pencil) and labels (typed) of diseased plants pasted onto the tiles, though some labels are missing.

The tiles, from left to right:

TOP ROW
Tile (100 x 100mm) with an image of rust-infected leaves (creeping thistle?) and two labels pasted on it. Part of the first label has fallen off; the remainder reads "RVENSE" and it may originally have read "CIRSIUM ARVENSE" (the binomial for creeping thistle). The second label reads "PUCCINIA OBTEGENS."
Tile (76 x 150mm) with an image of garlic (?) pasted on; the label is missing.
Tile (76 x 150mm) with an image of a geranium leaf and two labels pasted on it. The labels read "Geranium" and "Botrytis sp"
Tile (76 x 150mm) with four images of rust-infected leaves and a label pasted on it. The label reads "Puccinia Antirrhini"
Tile (100 x 100mm) with an image of a rust-infected leaf and three labels pasted on it. The labels read "Currant Rust," "CRONARTIUM RIBICOLA," and "Blister Rust of Five needled Pinea"

MIDDLE ROW
Tile (100 x 100mm) with three images and a label pasted on it. The label reads "BACTERIUM MARGINATUM."
Tile (150 x 150mm) with an image of an infected sugar beet leaf and two labels pasted on it. The labels read, "Sugar Beet" and "Alternaria tenuis"
Tile (150 x 150mm) with an image of an onion pasted on it; the label is missing.
Tile (150 x 150mm) with three images of cucumber leaves and two labels pasted on it. The labels read "Cucumber." and "Sun Scorch Damage"
Tile (100 x 100mm) with an image and a label pasted on it. The label reads "Bitter pit."

BOTTOM ROW
Tile (100 x 100mm) with an of a carrot and a label pasted on it. The label reads "Sclerotinia sclerotiorium."
Tile (76 x 150mm) with an image of a swede and three labels pasted on it. The labels read "Swede Canker. Phoma Lingam.," PYCNIDIUM," and "-Pycnidia."
Tile (76 x 150mm) with an image of infected lettuce pasted on it. The label is missing.
Tile (76 x 150mm) with an image of an onion (?) pasted on it. The label is missing.
Tile (100 x 100mm) with an image of an infected leaf pasted on it. The label reads "Pseudopeziza ribis"

5 parts: tabletop and four legs
Condition: poor

References

Events