Kipling Collection Exhibition Room at Bateman's

Barniz de Pasto Casket

Emma Schmuecker Studio Lead and Senior National Conservator – Decorative Arts

Bateman’s House is the home of world-famous author Rudyard Kipling. Most famous today for writing The Jungle Book and the nations favourite poem If. Kipling moved to Bateman’s in 1902 with his wife Carrie and their two children Elsie and John. Kipling loved Bateman’s, it was his private paradise where he wrote some of his most personal and important works, such as Rewards & Fairies and Puck of Pooks Hill, both inspired by the surrounding landscape of the Sussex Weald.

It is here, in this home that a long-overlooked casket sat on the parlour table. Known as the 'Spanish casket' it was thought to be a gift from Elsie when she was in Spain in 1927, yet in the same year Rudyard and Carrie also visited South America, specifically Brazil, and an unpublished letter describes how Carrie had been out 'looking at old furniture and silver'. With only anecdotal information to go by and little understanding of its materials and making it had lain in obscurity for many years.

It wasn’t until recent studies by the V&A on barniz de Pasto prompted National Trust curators to search its own collections, and in 2021 the first example of barniz de Pasto was identified at Bateman’s House. The item in question was indeed the 'Spanish casket.' Subsequently, a collaboration between National Trust and V&A conservation scientists, conservators, and curators, brought together resources and expertise for the technical examination and analysis of the casket. Accordingly, National Trust curators are re-examining the casket’s history and provenance, and conservators and scientists are identifying materials and construction to increase our knowledge and understanding of this rare and unique South American artform.

Technical examination of the decorative surface revealed a complex layer structure. The initial mopa mopa layer seen on the borders is a transparent reddish colour. The centre of the wooden panels has an opaque ivory-coloured layer of mopa mopa, used as a base and background for the barniz brillante decoration. This layer has a high concentration of lead as it was coloured with lead white (albayalde). Silver leaf was then applied where the decorative scheme requires it and is covered by additional layers of mopa mopa.

The decorative use of colour created complex and sophisticated details using dark colours, of blue and black. They were examined under visible light and infrared, as the subtly made it difficult to distinguish how and in what order they were used without magnification or multi-spectra imaging. The very dark blue can be seen with visible light but is invisible under infrared, conversely the black could be seen in the visible and infrared spectrum. This suggests the dark blue is resin coloured with indigo and the black is carbon black. It is now understood that the colours have specific purposes, both are used as contrasting colours in the design, but the dark blue has also been used as an underdrawing, whilst the black enhances and strengthens outlines.

Through the conservation process, the study of materials and techniques of the casket’s construction has revealed a wealth of information and evidence, which is contributing to the growing body of knowledge on barniz brillante. It has also presented the opportunity for new narratives to be incorporated into the forthcoming Kipling Collection exhibition, which opens on 15 February 2025. Exploring the life and works of Rudyard Kipling, the casket will feature as a star item in the 'Travel, Empire, and Identity' section of the exhibition.

This study has been made possible by the Royal Oak Foundation; the conservation studio, its expertise, and the funding it receives enable us to be part of nascent research into the materials, methods of construction and decoration of precious items like this, and that is incredibly exciting.

John's War Letter

Sep 25th
Saturday
5:30pm

Dear F,

Just a hurried line as we start off tonight. The front line trenches are nine miles off from here so it wont be a very long march.  

This is THE great effort to break through and end the war. The guns have been going deafeningly all day, without a single stop 

We have to push through at all costs so we won’t have much time in the trenches, which is great luck. Funny to think one will be in the thick of it tomorrow.  

one’s first experience of shell fire not in the trenches but in the open 

This is one of the advantages of a Flying Division you have to keep moving 

We marched 18 miles last night in the pouring wet 

It came down in sheets steadily 

They are staking a tremendous lot on this great advancing movement as if it succeeds the war wont go on for long. 

You have no idea what enormous issues depend on the next few days. This will be my last letter most likely for some time as we won’t get any time for writing this next week, but I will try & send Field postcards. 

Well so long old dears 

Dear Love 

John. 

 

Scout Letter

Dear Baden Powell, 

Many thanks for your letter and for the Christmas card from the children. I [?] agree with what you say about education, except that there exists a residue of ultimate dirt – say 5%- which must be coerced by fear at the beginning. Later it leaves honour and [?]. 

But you see [I’ve] [learnt] how any education up to date- only a little state instruction given on utter political lines. I mustn’t let my indignation bore you. With every [good] wish for your good work. 

Sincerely,

Rudyard Kipling 

Captain Scott’s Expedition Letter

Dear Mr Kipling, 

As a member of the main Landing Party of Captain Scott’s Expedition I had an Edition of your books. I can say quite truthfully that there were no books which we had which were so much used, gave so much food for conversation or more enjoyment- both to officers and seamen. And it has seemed to me that you may like to have one of this volume, which we had, & so I am sending you Kim which must have been read & enjoyed by practically all the shore party. I believe you would specially like to know how much your books were appreciated by the naval seamen. We took some of them (the books) sledging as well as having them in the Hut. 

Yours sincerely, 

Apsley Cherry Garrard 

The Baldwin Pig

Some to Women, some to Wine –
Some to Wealth or Power incline,
Proper people cherish Swine.

Cattle from the Argentine –
Poultry tough as office twine –
Give no pleasure when we dine:

But, from nose-tip unto chine,
Via every intestine Nothing is amiss in swine

Roast, or smoked or soaked in brine
(We have proved it, Cousin mine)
Every part of him is fine.

So, till Income Tax decline,
Or Truth exists across the Rhine,
Or George can speak it, praise we Swine
Common, hones decent Swine!

The Absent-Minded Beggar

 

Tiger Claws

An analysis by Historian, Writer and Researcher Arisa Loomba.

Rudyard Kipling, best known as the author of The Jungle Books, was deeply fascinated by India, its people, and its wildlife. This fascination, however, was inextricably linked to the complex and often brutal realities of the British Empire. At Bateman's, a set of seemingly innocuous objects—four tiger claws—open a window into this vast history. 

These claws, likely acquired during Kipling’s time in India prior to 1889, are more than mere curiosities. They represent a tangled web of connections between empire, nature, and the human desire for control and status. We don’t know exactly where Kipling got these claws from. He wrote to his friend, Edmonia Hill, in 1888 regarding a set of claws his mother had owned, which had regrettably all been chewed up by insects into a fine dust. He desired to own a set similar to these, but was struggling to find them, searching high and low in India’s bazaars. 

During British rule, the tiger became a well-known symbol of India: a fierce, uncivilised animal that needed to be tamed. The image of the tiger was used frequently following the 1857 Indian Mutiny, in which Indian soldiers rose up against the British, attempting to overthrow them. The mutineers were crushed, but it was a terrifying moment, forcing the British to realise that Indians had the capacity to rebel, and leading them to vastly increase their control over the Indian subcontinent. The visual of the tiger being shot, conquered by the white man and his gun, who stands proudly over the carcass in photographs and drawings, was immediately understood by Brits to represent the violent domination of India. 

In the 19th century, tiger claws were highly prized trophies, symbols of power and masculinity. They were often fashioned into jewellery, showcasing the owner's supposed dominance over both the animal kingdom and the colonised lands from which these creatures came. The relentless pursuit of tigers for sport and trophies, often by high-ranking officials and figureheads including King George V, decimated tiger populations. Between 1875 and 1925, an estimated 100,000 tigers were shot in Bengal alone. 

These hunts were lavish affairs, meticulously documented and celebrated as demonstrations of British victory and prestige. It became common and fashionable for these hunting spoils to be displayed proudly in British country houses like Bateman’s, some houses almost becoming like indoor zoos of taxidermied animals, killed and removed from their places of origin. 

Kipling’s own writings, particularly The Jungle Book, reflect the complex dynamics of these raging 19th century debates on the rights of tigers to roam free, threatening human life. Shere Khan, the tiger, is represented as a ‘man-eater’ who deserves to be killed, for the safety of mankind. However, historical research has found that while tigers did sometimes attack humans, British colonial newspapers, novels and cartoons exaggerated this threat to justify their presence and control. In fact, increasing violent contact between humans and tigers was a direct result of British activities, like railway construction leading to deforestation, changes in agricultural practices, and the expansion of human settlements into forests and jungles. 

Kipling villainises Shere Khan, but he also expresses sorrow and sympathy for the plight of the hunted tiger in this story. His words glimpse a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between humans and nature, rather than a simple celebration of colonial dominance. These tiger claws are more than just objects; they are symbols of complex and often troubling, intertwined human, animal and natural histories and the never-ceasing struggle for power.

Arisa Loomba is a Historian, Writer and Researcher. She is currently completing a PhD at Oxford University in partnership with the National Trust entitled: ‘The Book of the Overseas Club’: Reading Mobile Spaces and Materiality in the fin-de-siecle British Empire, through Rudyard Kipling's estate and collections.’