NA T I ONA L MU S EUM OF AN T I QU I T I E S F o u n d e d 1 7 8 6
high teA hEE-haw Limited Edition Canvas on Board of 95 Image Size 21 1/4 ” x 28” Framed £625
HIGH TEA HEE-HAW 1845 Jiangnan, China
cups and saucers which accompany it everywhere. Charles used this to his advantage as he tracked the creature through the hills for two weeks in the Summer of 1845. Eventually he managed to sneak up on the Hee Haw using a large Bourbon Cream as camouflage. Narrowly avoiding a dunking himself, Charles not only got this incredible painting but also returned with armfuls of biscuits to wondrous applause from Victorian society as the pleasures of sugared dunkable treats were received with open arms. The traditional high tea was born. Following the expedition to China and in celebration of the High Tea Hee-Haw, several companies including Carrs, Huntley & Palmer, and Crawfords formed in 1850 to produce the new biscuits based on the samples Charles returned with, although no one could fathom out the ‘nice’ biscuit which was anything but as it systematically collapses when dunked in tea. For such a creature that pursued ultimate dunkability, the inclusion of the word ‘nice’ on such a sponge of a biscuit unfortunately remains a mystery.
edison’s sherlock sidewinder Limited Edition Canvas on Board of 95 Image Size 30” x 18 3/4 ” Framed £595
As rare as a Ming vase, the High Tea Hee-Haw, when found, will invariably be in the middle of the tea bushes quietly content testing the dunkability of its recent creations. A creature with only one goal in life (to create the perfect accompaniment to tea), this gentle giant heats water in it’s chamber-sized body which is then mixed with tea leaves according to taste. No one really knows how the Hee-Haw creates its biscuits, but they are regarded as one of the greatest delicacies in the region. Tea pickers used to sit near this shy beast to benefit from its warmth during inclement periods until an incident involving scolding water and a chocolate digestive in 1799 put the Hee-Haw out of favour. Now it keeps itself to itself, but is easily spotted out in the open with its giveaway pink picnic blanket and oversized
EDISON’S SHERLOCK SIDEWINDER 1874-1876 London
Named in honour of Thomas Edison’s creation of the Edison Electric Light Company in 1878, this slippery slithery sidewinder is also said to have been the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes in 1887 when ‘A Study In Scarlet’ first appeared in Beeton’s Christmas Annual. Noted for it’s peculiar ‘S’ shape when standing, it sports a deerstalker hat and can regularly be seen smoking a rather ornate pipe. Charles captured his Edison’s Sherlock Sidewinder using a goldfish bowl laced with coca leaves. Returning to Great Britain he kept it on his book case for many years until one stormy night, his Sherlock Sidewinder lit its pipe and slithered away after hearing the particularly baleful howl of a hound.
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