Robert Peters Laura Bell Tea Towel

'Laura Bell as Eire sits on the Kings of Ulster coronation stone whilst playing Brian Boru's harp surrounded by English owned guns' s’. Laura is seated performing as Eire. In British propaganda from this period Ireland is often portrayed as a young maiden, being protected from violent, ape-like inhabitants by the manly John Bull, the personification of Britain. The image makes reference to the coronation stone of the Kings of Ulster, which is sited just outside Glenavy, Laura’s birthplace. She play’s Brian Boru’s harp. Boru, the High King of Ireland, travelled to the site of the coronation stone, to resolve a conflict with the Kings of Ulidia in 1006. The roulette wheel behind her, references the origin of Lisburn at Lisnagrevey, which means The Gamester’s Fort, and also Wallace’s penchant for gambling, which lost him his first art collection. The swords are from the armoury galleries at the Wallace collection, and would have been the type used by English Soldiers in their suppression of Irish forces. The Horse Shoe is a symbol of luck, Wallace’s luck being that his father hated his relatives, so chose not to leave them his fortune. Wallace included a horseshoe in his coat of arms, though in that case, being swallowed by an ostrich. The edges of the design are framed with interlaced pistols, again from the Wallace Collection. Mimicking Celtic knot work they imply Ireland’s political structure has been dictated by English owned guns.