ART OF CHEAM
Wall 1
Greg has been baking bread for Eco since the the early 1990s.
Wall 2
Tony Hancock is a beloved English comedian. His ground-breaking Hancock’s Half-hour was broadcast on the radio from a mythological East Cheam.
Tea merchant Archdale Palmer lived at Cheam House, built in 1820 but unfortunately demolished by a flying bomb in 1944.
James Killick, also from Cheam, was a sea captain, travelling between London and China to make money in the lucrative tea trade.
Women making bread in Egypt, 2000s. Wood-fired ovens were invented there around 3000 BCE. Obviously a tried and tested way of baking. These days Eco pizzas are made with a nod to this tradition.
The philosopher, occultist and mathematician John Dee was married to Jane Dee (née Fromond) who was an English gentlewoman and lady-in-waiting, born in Cheam in 1555. There are no images of Jane to be found so John is imploring the viewer to imagine her. She was 28 years younger and very influential in her own right and supportive of him and his ideas.
Wall 3
A detail of a hunting scene in front of Nonsuch Palace c.1600s. Flemish School. Nonsuch was built by Henry VIII from 1583. Henry was jealous of the Loire Valley palace built by the French king Francis I so decided to erect a palace to rival Château de Chambord. Nonsuch means unsurpassed. In 1922, the 600 year old cottage had to be dismantled and rebuilt 45 metres away to allow improvements to the neighbouring highway. Also: ‘Owing to the public spirit of the Epsom Council, the historic preTudor cottage at Cheam, has been saved from the American market.’ The maps of Italy, Egypt and London are important history in the lives of the Wasif family that started and continue to run Eco restaurants. The glorious rose. Eco took its name from Umberto Eco’s. He wrote The Name of the Rose, a favourite book of Sami Wasif. Cheam ware started in the 1350s. This is a a biconical jug. Drawing of an inner court fountain from Nonsuch Palace
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Scenes of old Cheam, some of which are still intact.
Wall 8
Beautiful, useful Cheam ware. A silver tea-set celebrating the importance of the history of tea in Cheam. An Arabesque panel ‘that may have come’ from Nonsuch Palace. It shows an angel playing ‘a bagpipe’
Wall 8a
On the left is a painting by Peter Lely of Barbara Villiers, mistress of Charles II. Charles is painted by John Michael Wright. According to historians, Barbara had five illegitimate children with the king. Here she is with young Charles Fitzroy. Charles gave her Nonsuch Palace but started an affair with Louise de Kérouaille and later, Nell Gwyn. Barbara wasn’t happy about this even though she was already married to Roger Palmer, Earl of Castlemaine and had become a Duchess. She was beautiful and notorious, and according to the diarist John Evelyn, “the curse of the nation”. She dismantled Nonsuch Palace and sold it off as building materials to pay off her huge gambling debts. This is why the Palace doesn’t exist anymore. In between is a drawing - possibly architectural - of Nonsuch Palace and below that is a rubble of loaves.
Wall 9a
This is a Nonsuch apple. These were grown in Nonsuch Park from 1826. Cheam is mentioned in the Domesday book. Painting showing Cheam’s The Cock tavern in 1745 by Richard Wilson. The old photograph shows brilliant Charter women at the Charter Fair. A view of Nonsuch Palace. Ancient style bread-making tools still being used in Egypt. Henry Fitzalan, 12th earl of Arundel, was sold Nonsuch Palace by Queen Mary with whom he later fell out.
Wall 9b
Three interior shots of the restaurant’s former life as a Sainsbury’s. Top to bottom: 1905, 1920s, 1975.
Wall 10
A large canvas in celebration of the deer. They roamed (almost) peacefully in Nonsuch Park.
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Old illustrations of deer. Botanical image of tomatoes, the baking of bread and a traditional fire oven in Egypt. Fire, sourdough and tomatoes are the basis of making a pizza and Eco maintain cooking with a traditional hand-built, wood-fired pizza oven is the only way.
Wall 14
The background shows a detail of the old Cheam Brewery. The framed pictures show botanical illustrations of lavender which was farmed in this part of the world. Sid James and Tony Hancock. Also, with kids in mind, there are depictions of animals drawn in different styles. Accurate engravings from the age of discovery placed next to cartoon versions. The animals are discussing the artistic abilities of human artists.
Wall 15
The background shows an enlarged detail of a watercolour of Nonsuch Palace painted in 1568 by Georg Hoefnagel. The framed photographs show kids and chefs joyfully working together making pizzas.
Wall 16
The photos show two Cheam pottery items allegedly found in Arkansas, USA: a candlestick holder and a pot. Lavender pickers, pubs of Cheam and St Dunstan whose namesake church is a Devil’s tongs length away.
Wall 17a
Cheam Brewery. Cheam School. A 1926 Southern Electric poster by Ethelbert White. A photograph of Nanette Newman who starred in a sitcom based in Cheam. Henry VIII who started building the palace at Nonsuch. Cheam Fire Brigade. You are here. Two views of Cheam. Brewery price list. Another view of old Cheam.
Wall 17b
The possible meaning of ‘Cheam’. Monks illuminating. Comment overheard by local woman outside. Botanical lavender print.
Tree of Knowledge
This is an enlargement of an Egyptian Tree of Life painting on papyrus. The birds represent the stages of our lives: infancy, childhood, youth, adulthood and maturity.