Estate Find

1864

Engraving

“Come To The Maypole”

Joseph Nash, artist

Charles Cousen, engraver

We offer a nineteenth century engraving by Charles Cousen (1819-1889) of a sixteenth century Maypole folk dance originally painted in 1854 by Joseph Nash, (1809-1878). The engraving, historically known as “Come to the Maypole”, dates from the 1860s and later was included as an illustration in the Ward Lock volume on folk songs titled “Old English Ballads” first published in 1864.

The framed engraving measures 17 1/8" in height and 14 1/8" in width. The image measures 10" in height and 8” in width.

As seen in the photographs, the framing is old with discoloration to the matting and toning to the paper margins. The Maypole engraving is presented in gently aged antique condition.

Maypole dancing is a form of folk dance from western Europe, especially England, Sweden and Germany, with two distinctive traditions. In the most widespread, dancers perform circle dances around a tall pole which is decorated with garlands, painted stripes, flowers, flags and other emblems. In the second, dancers dance in a circle each holding a coloured ribbon attached to a much smaller pole; the ribbons are intertwined and plaited either on to the pole itself or into a web around the pole. The dancers may then retrace their steps exactly in order to unravel the ribbons. The first kind of maypole dancing is probably extremely ancient and is thought by some to have Germanic pagan fertility symbolism, although there is a frustrating lack of evidence to support this conjecture. It is traditionally performed in the spring around the festival of May Day, but in Sweden it is during the midsummer festivities. The second kind of maypole dancing originates in the 18th century, derived from traditional and 'art' dance forms popular in Italy and France. These were exported to the London stage and reached a large audience, becoming part of the popular performance repertoire. Adopted at a large teacher training institution, the ribbon maypole dance then spread across most of central and southern England and is now regarded as the most 'traditional' of May Day's traditional characteristics.