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Line Engraving 90 x 244 mm
Edition: 30
Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1974, No.988 RE 1974, No.51 Götene 1975
Illustrated: The Royal Academy Illustrated, 1974, p32
Collection: City of Sheffield, Graves and Mapin Art Gallery
A jumbled collection of old machinery and tools lies abandoned between some barns at Knightscote
Farm, Harefield. The plate was dedicated to the artist’s grandson – “To JEC 1973” is engraved on a
book in the bottom left hand corner. Two nudes appear in this plate, one named ‘Eve’! Also a
caricatured self portrait of the artist! The three items of the title are engraved on the respective
machines portrayed in the plate.
The artist recorded an inventory for the plate as follows: “Oxalis Corniclata (yellow sorrel), moon daisy,
chestnut tree, ash tree, nettles, plantain, dock, blackberry, convolvulus, dandelion, weeds and grasses,
shandy barrow, seed drill, maize kibbler, butter churn, 2 milk churns, wagon jack (hand forged), seat
tractor, old flat iron, hedge slasher knife for trimming cow’s hoof, 2 horseshoes, number of old spanners,
jug, funnel, small book, hand-forged adjustable spanner, meat hook, old gear wheel, split-handled screw
driver, bottle, old rabbit hutch, iron mallet, old handlebars with bell, coiled spring, pipe with tap on end,
wine bottle, small oil can, ballcock, broken chopper, 2 wrought iron gutter brackets, coils of rubber
hose, 2 broken pitchforks, 7 wire straining hooks, old kettle, old Wellingtons, straining bracket for
holding walls together, old pair steel tongs, fruit picking ladder, sharpened wood stakes, sheep shears,
bean dibblers, old paint tin with brush in, cider flagon, tomtits’ nesting box, old rabbit hutch, banded oak
barrel, old iron teapot, broken hammer, rake, seed sacks, old wagon wheel, bucket handle (broken), ‘H’
section iron girder, butcher’s meat chopper, old window frame, very small box with lid, old round sieve,
padlock, duck on pond, large iron shod dibber, rick tester, turfing iron, sack trolley, old brick wall,
granary, bits of old pipes and tubes, old brush, broken fork handle, handsaw, bracket, sickle, house-
brick.” The artist clearly had much fun with this plate
some of the actual items
recorded by Charles Chaplin,
and traced them to a farm in
the London Borough of
Hillingdon. It's highly likely
these items were the actual
pieces Chaplin used. Some of
his sketches, below right,
show a remarkable attention
to detail, knowing he would be
relying on the sketches later in
studio.
