To mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887, the Royal Watercolour Society (of which Ruskin was an honorary member), presented a group of 71 watercolours contained in four large leather-bound boxes. In a letter from Ruskin in the archives of the Royal Watercolour Society, dated 24 December 1886, and addressed to the institution's secretary, he promised to "look out as pretty a drawing as I could do in old time" (Quoted in Simon Fenwick and Greg Smith, The Business of Watercolour (1997) pp. 74-5). In the end he contributed two drawings to the jubilee gift, this one and a study of a plant (RCIN 913546).