{"id":3079,"date":"2025-08-29T15:10:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T15:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fionahodgesart.com\/?post_type=project&p=3079"},"modified":"2025-08-29T15:15:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T15:15:52","slug":"the-magpie-king","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/fionahodgesart.com\/?project=the-magpie-king","title":{"rendered":"The Magpie King"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Magpie King<\/h1>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Available to purchase<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Media: Clay, glaze<\/p>\n

This ceramic sculpture reimagines King Henry VIII as a magpie, symbolising his notorious plundering of Lincoln Cathedral\u2019s sacred treasures. It was created for the A Right Royal Heist exhibition at Lincoln Cathedral which took place from April to July 2025.<\/p>\n

The Magpie King sits proudly on his throne surrounded by treasure chests full of precious objects. The bird, known for its affinity for collecting shiny objects, serves as a fitting metaphor for Henry\u2019s voracious acquisition of wealth from the country\u2019s cathedrals and monasteries. It captures the essence of the king\u2019s assertion of his royal power, as he stripped churches of their gold, silver, precious stones, reliquaries, and opulent vestments which were later sold off to help fund wars and pay off debts.<\/p>\n

The magpie, with its gleaming feathers, carries the weight of historical symbolism, highlighting the king\u2019s need to grab wealth while undermining the sanctity of religious institutions.<\/p>\n

The sculpture invites reflection on the complex relationship between power and the desecration of cultural and religious heritage.<\/p>\n

Dimensions approximately:<\/p>\n

22 x 12 x 12 cm, plus two treasure chests. Weight 3.1 kg<\/p>\n

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The Magpie King  Available to purchase Media: Clay, glaze This ceramic sculpture reimagines King Henry VIII as a magpie, symbolising his notorious plundering of Lincoln Cathedral\u2019s sacred treasures. It was created for the A Right Royal Heist exhibition at Lincoln Cathedral which took place from April to July 2025. The Magpie King sits proudly on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"project_category":[20],"project_tag":[655,462,643,666],"class_list":["post-3079","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","project_category-ceramic-sculpture","project_tag-bird-sculpture","project_tag-ceramic-sculpture","project_tag-contemporary-sculpture","project_tag-magpie"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fionahodgesart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/project\/3079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fionahodgesart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/project"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fionahodgesart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/project"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fionahodgesart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fionahodgesart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3079"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/fionahodgesart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/project\/3079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3084,"href":"https:\/\/fionahodgesart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/project\/3079\/revisions\/3084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fionahodgesart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fionahodgesart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fionahodgesart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fproject_category&post=3079"},{"taxonomy":"project_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fionahodgesart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fproject_tag&post=3079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}