What are these items?
a. What was remarkable about the Palladianstyle house designed by Edwin Lutyens and exhibited at the 1924 Empire Exhibition?
b. Commissioned in 1726 by the 3rd Duke of Beaufort, what famous piece of furniture holds the record for the most expensive ever sold at auction?
c. Which famous hard-paste porcelain was made in a fortress castle owned by Augustus, King of Poland?
d. Who does the Victoria & Albert Museum describe as ‘the greatest silversmith working in England in the 18th century’?
e. Known as the Wedgwood of the glass industry, which long-running glass factory is associated with James Powell and Geo!rey Baxter? a. Which painting in the National Gallery inspired Terry Gilliam to create the Monty Python giant foot in the opening sequence that stamps down from heaven and obliterates all beneath it?
b. Which British artist wrote ‘California always a!ected me with colour. Because of the light you see more colour, people wear more colourful clothes, you notice it, it doesn’t look garish.’
c. Which royal equestrian statue was ordered to be melted down in the 17th century but was instead buried, later recovered, and displayed where it still stands at Charing Cross?
d. Which sculpture, bought by the Duke of Bedford, was once displayed at Woburn in a specially designed rotunda?
e. Which artistic couple, as well known for their formal appearance as their collaborative graphic art, "rst met as students of sculpture in the 1960s?
a. Known as ‘The father of industrial design’, which innovative Victorian collaborated with businessman John Harrison to found the Linthorpe Po!ery?
b. Which aristocratic interior designer, known for unpretentiously stylish interiors and an illustrious clientele, started her business in 1930 a"er losing a fortune in the
Wall Street Crash?
c. Which iconic 20th-century chair, designed in 1949, was inspired by portraits of merchants seated on Chinese Ming dynasty chairs?
d. Whose famous factory, now beneath the Royal Festival Hall, produced a popular 18th-century building material widely used by Robert Adam and John Nash for sculpture and architectural elements?
e. What item of furniture links Arne Jacobsen to the Profumo A#air?
What links the following: a. Eric Ravilious, Daisy Makeig-Jones, Keith Murray, John Skeaping b. Seaweed, Oyster, Flame, Stringing c. Stipple, drypoint, mezzotint, aquatint d. Arita, Imari, Satsuma, Noritake e. Terry Frost, Patrick Heron, Roger Hilton, Peter Lanyon
a. To which home was Quentin Bell referring when he wrote, ‘Ours was an elastic home, it never broke’?
b. Which childhood home of Henry VIII was turned into an Art Deco showcase by Stephen and Virginia Courtauld?
c. Who masterminded the creation of the lavish Victorian interiors at Cardi# Castle?
d. Designed by Inigo Jones, and considered to be one of the most opulently decorated rooms in England, where is the Double Cube Room?
e. One of only two modernist homes owned by the National Trust, what is the name of the house built by architect Patrick Gwynne in 1938 to replace the family’s Victorian Villa?
a. Which famous sculptor’s studio was recreated in a historic tithe barn in Wiltshire earlier this year?
b. Who painted The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen – one of the most valuable paintings stolen from a museum this year?
c. Whose statue of black protester Jen Reid caused controversy when it replaced the torn down monument of Edward Colston in Bristol?
d. Whose spectacles sold for a spectacular £260,000 in Bristol this year?
e. Why did the Dorset church in Okeford Fitzpaine inspire The Sun’s headline ‘In the Lard’s Name’ in August?
a. Which Yorkshire-born 18th-century cabinet maker and designer lived and operated his business at 62 St Martin’s Lane, London?
b. Why were there wild animals and a menagerie of dogs at 18 St John’s Wood Road?
c. Who hosted a party at his home near Holborn to celebrate his acquisition of the sarcophagus of Egyptian pharaoh Seti I?
d. In which Cornish house did artist Robert Lenkiewicz spend 30 years working on his masterpiece Riddle Mural?
e. Who lived at Limnerslease in Surrey and in 1904 built the #rst purpose-built gallery devoted to a single artist nearby?
a. Planter, correction, fauteuil and zig-zag are all types of what?
b. How many facets does a brilliant-cut diamond normally have?
c. What does the term Samorodok mean: i) a Russian textured surface ii) an Inuit embroidery stitch iii) a Norwegian bell iv) or a Slovenian urn?
d. What innovation was Mrs Haweis writing about in 1880 when she predicted ‘a revolution in dress-colours and wall-colours will doubtless follow its introduction in private houses’.
e. In The Diary of a Nobody, Mr Pooter takes a bath and writes a!erwards: ‘On moving my hand above the surface of the water, I experienced the greatest fright I have ever received in the whole course of my life; for imagine my horror on discovering my hand, as I thought, full of blood.’ What had happened: i) the water was stained with rust from faulty plumbing
ii) the bath had been repainted and the red enamel paint wasn’t dry iii) he had forgo"en to remove one of his gloves iv) or the bath salts he had put in the water was the hostess’s henna hair dye?
a. Which American-born writer moved to Paris in 1903, where she established an illustrious salon that helped launch the careers of Matisse and Picasso?
b. When the Second World War broke out, which art-loving socialite bought one painting a day, including work by Miró and Chagall?
c. Which British monarch and avid collector bought a Sèvres dinner service commissioned by Louis XVI and acquired Napoleon’s cloak and his travelling cutlery?
d. Where is the famous 18th-century silver swan, which Mark Twain ‘watched… seize a silver !sh from under the water and hold up his head and go through the customary and elaborate motions of swallowing it’?
e. Which leading 20th-century equestrian artist, former PRA, lived in Castle Hill, Dedham, near Colchester, in a property that still contains many of his paintings and studio?
Which is the odd one out in each of the following? a. Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton, Derby b. Tavern, Bracket, Carriage, Hansom c. Maiolica, Stoneware, Faience, Del", d. Bonnet, Top rail, Back splat, Arm e. Daum, Lalique, Roule#e, Baccarat
a. What popular Christmas tradition did V&A founder Henry Cole introduce in 1843 as a way of saving time?
b. What festive accessory was !rst marketed in 1861 by Tom Smith as ‘Bangs of Expectation’?
c. Who said: ‘I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph’?
d. What supposedly inspired the tradition for gingerbread houses?
e. What poultry product was used to make arti!cial trees in 19th-century Germany?