Skylight and Plaster Panels from RMS <I>Majestic</I>
date: label: date made
content: 1890
label: ship was broken up
content: 1914
label: lantern and panels were donated to the Smithsonian
content: 1970s
name: label: architect
content: Robinson, George Thomas
notes: label: Description
content: Built in 1890 by Belfast shipbuilders Harland & Wolff, the RMS <I>Majestic</I> was designed for luxury ocean travel. Like its sister ship, the RMS <I>Teutonic</I>, which was launched the previous year, the <I>Majestic</I> was built for the White Star Line’s service between Liverpool and New York.
label: Description
content: The interior of the <I>Majestic</I> was opulent. Staterooms featured colored glass screens over the ports, while the smoking room walls were embossed with gilded leather and mahogany panels. Skylights, or lanterns, were installed in the ship’s dining rooms and other common areas. The lantern domes were designed to allow natural light to filter into the <I>Majestic’</I>s interior spaces.
label: Description
content: The lantern in the <I>Majestic</I>'s first class dining saloon was designed by British architect George Thomas Robinson. It was made up of 56 individual pieces, including eight plaster friezes, leaded stained glass and wood paneling. The plaster friezes depicted the “shipbuilder’s art from the early days of the Spanish Armada to the Battle of Trafalgar.”
label: Description
content: When the <I>Majestic</I> was broken up in 1914, parts of the first class dining saloon lantern were sold to a ship salvage company, including the plaster panels. Several of these were paired with a smaller lantern from the ship and installed in the executive board room of Thomas W. Ward Ltd., in Sheffield, England. In the early 1970s, the director of the company donated this lantern and the plaster panels from the <I>Majestic</I> to the Smithsonian. He pointed out that the lantern had been saved three times, once when the ship was broken up and twice during the world wars of the twentieth century. He thought it fitting to donate this survivor to the United States “in memory of the many very gallant merchant seamen . . . who served in the Atlantic during the two World Wars.”
place: label: ship sailed to and from
content: United Kingdom: England, Liverpool
label: ship sailed to and from
content: United States: New York, New York
topic: label: related event
content: The Development of the Industrial United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: See more items in
content: On the Water exhibit
label: See more items in
content: Art
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Thos. W. Ward Limited, through G. W. Page, Director.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.336295
label: accession number
content: 1978.0206
label: catalog number
content: 336295
objectType: label: Object Name
content: skylight
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plaster (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: lead (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 15 1/2 ft x 6 1/2 ft x 4 ft; 4.7244 m x 1.9812 m x 1.2192 m
label: Measurements
content: four panels: 24 1/2 in x 34 1/2 in; 62.23 cm x 87.63 cm
label: Measurements
content: four panels: 24 1/2 in x 39 1/2 in; 62.23 cm x 100.33 cm
label: Measurements
content: glass dome: 18 in; x 45.72 cm