What the heck is a lek?
Males great bustards perform spectacular courtship displays, gathering at a ‘lek’ or small display ground to try to impress the females.
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This stained-glass window by John Piper was commissioned for the museum in 1981 and shows many of the county antiquities set in a Wiltshire landscape. Among the objects and places shown are Stonehenge and other urns, the Cherhill White Horse, Sarsens, the Devil’s Den, the Upton Lovell amber necklace and woolly-headed thistles.
John Piper (1903-1992) was a painter, printmaker and stained-glass window designer who was born at Epsom, and studied at Richmond and Kingston Schools of Art, and the Royal College of Art. He worked in a variety of styles over the course of his career and he was an official war artist from 1940-1942, depicting bomb-damaged churches and landmarks. He was also a member of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, the society who still manage Wiltshire Museum today.
This stained-glass window design was commissioned by the Museum and realised by Patick Reyntiens. It was installed in the museum in the 1980s and shows many of the antiquities of the Wiltshire landscape, including objects in the Museum’s collection such as the Stonehenge Urn and the Upton Lovell amber necklace. The window also features aspects of the Wiltshire landscape including the Devil’s Den, one of Wiltshire’s famous White Horses, barrows, a Sarsen stone avenue and woolly-headed thistles.
The John Piper window can be used as a tool to highlight key areas of prehistory that is found within the Wiltshire Landscape. For example, the window shows aspects of sites such as Devils Den, a neolithic passage grave on Fyfield Hill near Marlborough. Furthermore, it shows objects found today in Wiltshire Museum’s collections. These were manufactured within the prehistoric period such as the Upton Level Amber Necklace and Urns found as burials surrounding Stonehenge. The whole stained glass is able to show Wiltshire’s link to the prehistoric period.
John Piper was an artist within the Second World war and therefore he can also be linked with World War II curriculum and art.
The John Piper-stained glass window can link to the Wessex Region in several ways. First, the window itself is exhibiting a series of antiquities found within the Wiltshire landscape, alongside showcasing the landscape itself. John Piper, although not born in Wiltshire, was also a member of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History society linking him to the society and thus the region. John Piper created several sketches and art pieces incorporating Wiltshire during his time as an artist.
Males great bustards perform spectacular courtship displays, gathering at a ‘lek’ or small display ground to try to impress the females.
The great bustard has a dignified slow walk but tends to run when disturbed, rather than fly.
The hen-bird on display at The Salisbury Museum was one of the last great bustards to be eaten in the town!