Noah's ark
Category
Toys
Date
Unknown
Materials
Wood, chamois leather, glass. fur fabric, plastic, sheep skin and plaster.
Measurements
Ark - 850 mm (length); 225 mm (width); 475 mm (height), Large elephant - 230 mm (length), Animals and figures (min) - 62 mm (height), Animals and figures (max) - 155 mm (height)
Order this imageCollection
National Trust Museum of Childhood (Accredited Museum)
NT 664022
Summary
A wooden Noah's Ark with a painted red brick facade and stone dressings. One half of the roof is hinged and opens to reveal the animals inside. The roof is painted in two shades of blue and in the centre of the hinged section of the roof is a white dove. There is a door at one end of the ark, two painted windows on each side of the ark, and a roofed porch at the other end of the ark. There are three pieces of painted wood which have broken off the ark. The ark contains plaster figures of Noah and his family. Noah has a long grey beard and a painted long brown garment. His left arm is raised and in his right hand he holds a blue and white bird. There is a seated figure of one of Noah's sons, wearing a red and yellow garment and a red white and green garment. There is also a kneeling wife of one of Noah's sons wearing a long blue garment. Another daughter-in-law is wearing a green top and red skirt. Noah's wife is wearing a purple dress and cream headdress. Another son of Noah wearing a red cloak and grey under-garment which is broken, at the feet and ankles, off his stand. The following animals are made of painted chamois leather: A pair of painted grey elephants with glass eyes. They have pink mouths and tips of trunks and brown toes. Both have a pair of tusks. A pair of camels, painted light brown, with glass eyes and sheepskin attached to the front of the neck, top of the head and the hump. A pair of rhinoceros painted brown and black with glass eyes. One has its mouth open, revealing teeth. A pair of pug dogs. One pug is grey with a white throat and black muzzle with a red and black collar and metal tag. Both front legs and one hind leg are broken. The other pug is beige with a black muzzle, ears, tip of tail and along the back. It is wearing a red collar and metal tag. A donkey painted grey and white with a black wool mane and glass eyes. One ear is broken off and the end of the tail is missing. A pair of tigers painted orange with black stripes, with white bellies and feet and glass eyes. One has an open mouth. A beige painted lion and lioness. The lion has a sheepskin mane and tip of tail. It has a beige body with an open mouth and glass eyes. The lioness has a white breast and blaze and a brown stripe along her back. The eyes are glass. A pair of pinky-beige painted pigs with painted wooden hooves and glass eyes. Both pigs have red collars. The following animals are made of skin with black painted wooden hooves: A pair of deer with glass eyes. The stag has a sheepskin stripe down the breast. The fur on both animals is worn. A pale brown cow with black tipped horns and a white tipped tail and glass eyes. There is an orange and black collar with a horn buckle and a metal bell. The fur is badly worn. A pair of ponies with glass eyes. One is black with a brown face and a bandage on his right foreleg. There is repair to the right side of the neck. Both have brown halters. The other pony is a brown and white dapple with a black mane and tail and black hooves. A white fur fabric polar bear with glass eyes. The fur is badly worn and the left front leg is damaged. The paws are painted leather. A pair of fur fabric sheep with painted wooden faces and legs with yellow hooves. Both have red collars. The fur fabric is worn in places. A pair of fur fabric brown bears with painted leather feet, glass eyes and wooden noses. The fur fabric is slightly worn and the left front paw on one bear is damaged. A painted plastic giraffe with black hooves and a pair of panel pin horns. A painted plastic zebra with black hooves. The zebra and the giraffe may not be part of the original ark although they are displayed with it now. Total number of items is 41.
Provenance
Donated to the Museum of Childhood by Dr. G. O. Brooks in February 1974.
Marks and inscriptions
Belly of the zebra: 'IF/ITALY' Belly of the giraffe: 'IF.ITALY'