Art Collections Online

On 25 June 1824 one of Wales's grandest 21st-birthday celebrations took place for Sir Robert Williames Vaughan, the son of Merioneth's biggest resident landowner. Held on the Nannau estate in Dolgellau, 200 guests sat down to an extravagant banquet that included a huge joint of beef from the white ox of Nannau, the subject of a painting by Daniel Clowes of Chester. Various items produced to commemorate the event are now in the collections of Amgueddfa Cymru, including two of six acorn-shaped toasting cups made for the occasion. They were made from the wood of the Derwen Ceubren yr Ellyll, 'the hollow oak of the demon', an ancient tree at Nannau associated with Owain Glyndwr.