The Dunham Massey Hall sundial is a lead sculpture depicting a kneeling Black man holding a

sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...

on his head. It was created during the early 18th century, and until 2020 stood outside Dunham Massey Hall, a

stately home An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

in Cheshire, England. Its subject matter attracted criticism and in 2020 the National Trust removed it amid the global wave of statue removals connected with the

2020 Black Lives Matter protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and Civil disorder, civil unrest against Police brutality in the United States, police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. Th ...

in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. It is currently held in storage.

Description

The sundial sculpture is a black,

polychromed Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors. Ancient Egypt Colossal statu ...

cast- lead statue. It depicts a life-size kneeling figure of an African man wearing a feathered loincloth and holding a stone and brass sundial on his head. The figure's eyes are painted white with blue pupils, and the loincloth is painted blue and green. It dates from the 18th century and has been attributed to

Andries Carpentière Andries Carpentière or Charpentière (1672–1737) was an English sculptor of French or Flemish descent active in Britain in the early 18th century. His name is sometimes anglicised as Andrew Carpenter. He worked in both marble and lead. Biogra ...

(1677–1737). It is thought that it was cast after a model by

Jan van Nost John Nost (Dutch: Jan van Nost) (died 1729) was a Flemish sculptor who worked in England in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Life Originally from Mechelen in what is now Belgium, he moved to England in the second half of the 17th centur ...

(c.1660-1711-13) which was installed in 1701 in the Privy Garden of

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

. It was probably commissioned by George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington (1675-1758). The figure is an example of a tradition in western art history called the " blackamoor" categorised as a personification of the continent of Africa, and an anonymous ‘kneeling

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

’. These caricatures appeared in a wide range of arts including sculpture, painting, architectural decoration, ceramics, silverware and furniture, and generally depicted a generic black person in exoticised costume and posted in a servile position, holding an object. Close to the sculpture was a plaque containing the words: “This sundial is in the style of one commissioned by King William III. It represents Africa, one of four continents known at the time. The figure depicts a Moor, not a slave, and he has knelt here since before 1750.”

Controversy and removal

In June 2020, the National Trust announced that it was "reviewing" the statue amid the global wave of statue removals during the Black Lives Matter protests. Shortly afterwards, the Trust took the decision to remove the statue from its prominent location outside Dunham Massey Hall, stating that the sculpture "caused upset and distress because of the way it depicts a black person and because of its prominence at the front of the house". The National Trust also stated that it did not plan to "censor or deny" colonial history, but intended to devise a new way of displaying it "in a way that fully acknowledges the appalling histories of slavery and the slave trade". Historic England noted that the National Trust had not requested listed building consent prior to the removal of the Grade II-listed sundial. File:Dunham massey, sundial.jpg, Detail of the statue File:Dunham Massey 2016 060.jpg, Position of the sculpture in front of the Hall prior to 2020 File:Dunham Massey sundial removal notice.jpeg, National Trust notice explaining the sculpture's removal

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=October 2020 Black people in art Grade II listed buildings in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford Lead sculptures Monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests Relocated buildings and structures in the United Kingdom Sculptures in England Sculptures of men in the United Kingdom Statues in England Sundials Statues removed in 2020