The White Lion of Mortimer
The White Lion of Mortimer
3D
Published 2018-10-02T14:40:21+00:00
This sculpture depicts The White Lion of Mortimer, one of the Queen's Beasts.
The original Queen’s Beasts were a set of ten heraldic statues produced by the Ministry of Works for the coronation ceremony of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953 by renowned sculptor James Woodford.
It was ultimately decided that they would be gifted to one of the Commonwealth governments and Canada was offered the Beasts. They accepted the offer in 1959 and they now stand in the Canadian Museum of History in Quebec. In 1956 a replica set of Beasts were made in Portland stone once again by James Woodford and donated to Kew. It is these sculptures that visitors to the gardens are greeted with when approaching the main entrance of the Palm House.
The White Lion of Mortimer descends to the Queen through Edward IV. The shield shows a white rose encircled by a golden sun, known heraldically as a ‘white rose en soleil’ which is really a combination of two distinct badges. Both of these appear on the Great Seals of Edward IV and Richard III, and were used by George VI when Duke of York. Unlike the Lion of England, this beast is uncrowned
| Date published | 02/10/2018 |
| Title | The White Lion of Mortimer |
| Date | 1956 |
| Dimension | 1.80m |
| Medium | Portland stone |
| Credit | Replica of James Woodford' (1953) by James Woodford (1956); Presented by an anonymous donor. |
| Record | https://www.kew.org/blogs/library-art-and-archives/the-queens-beasts |
| Artist | James Woodford |
| Place | the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |
