The Toads' Tea Party — Beatrix Potter (c. 1905)

Tea time in the undergrowth

In a quiet woodland, six plump toads in jackets of blue, ochre, pink, brown, green and violet have gathered around a table made from a toadstool. Each sits on a mushroom of its own, sipping solemnly from an acorn cup, while a large cake waits in the middle. A seventh toad, arriving late, peers over a fallen branch. Beatrix Potter painted this whimsical scene around 1905 for a book of nursery rhymes she was planning at the time.

Beatrix Potter, naturalist

Look closely at the mushrooms: they are painted with a botanist's precision. Before becoming a children's author, Potter was a passionate mycologist. She painted hundreds of scientifically accurate studies of fungi and studied how their spores germinate, work that was presented to the Linnean Society of London in 1897, at a time when women were not allowed to attend its meetings. In The Toads' Tea Party, her two passions meet: the storyteller dresses her toads in little jackets, the scientist paints the forest floor exactly as it is. The original drawing is held in the Linder Bequest at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Why it works so well on a wall

Mossy greens, autumn golds and jewel-toned jackets on a soft ivory background: this print is a joy in a kitchen, a dining room or a tea corner, and a delight in a child's bedroom. A must for lovers of cottagecore and goblincore interiors, mushroom enthusiasts and anyone who takes their tea very seriously.

• Artist: Beatrix Potter (1866–1943)
• Work: The Toads' Tea Party, drawn for a planned book of nursery rhymes
• Date: c. 1905
• Medium: Pen and ink and watercolour on paper
• Collection: Victoria and Albert Museum, London (Linder Bequest)
• Design: Wallango edition, ivory background with museum-style caption

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