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A pair of Minton plates painted with Queen Victoria’s Collies Fern & Noble by Eva Langham (the Queen’s lady-in-waiting) A pair of reticulated Minton plates showing images of Queen Victoria’s favourite Collies, Fern & Noble III recumbent in a Highland setting by Eva Langham (the Queen’s lady-in-waiting).
The image of Fern is after one of the enamel paintings by Carl Schmidt of Bamberg (German, 1833-1913) which is in the Royal Collection, no doubt the image of Noble is also inspired by Schmidt.
Noble succeeded another Collie, Sharp in the Queens affections. He was given to the Queen at Balmoral on 24 May 1872 and was to die at Balmoral 18 September 1887. There were two other Collies called Noble. But it was Noble III that became the Queen’s favourite pet. Consequently Noble was photographed and painted on several occasions together with his friends Fern, another collie (c. 1876 – 1886), the Dachshund, Waldman VI, and a Smooth-haired Fox Terrier, Wat, who actually belonged to Princess Beatrice but was the very much loved by the Queen. The four dogs seem to have spent a great deal of time together especially at Balmoral, where happily exercised by the Ghillies who worked on the estate, The Queen had a remarkable likening for Collie and owned as many as 88 during her lifetime more than any other breed of dog recorded in her kennels.
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