Pen and ink sketch of young Queen's Counsel by Reginald Cleaver c1900

CLEAVER, Reginald (1870-1954). Original pen-and-ink sketch for The Graphic c1900. 
 
The sketch depicts the swearing-in of newly appointed Queen’s Counsel, with accompanying courtroom and corridor scenes. Likely London, for publication in The Graphic, circa 1900. light surface soiling and mild handling marks consistent with working artwork; Pencil inscriptions to verso, very good.
 
Original pen and ink on card, measuring approximately 260 × 300 mm. Signed by the artist lower right. With the artist’s pencilled title and publication note on the verso, reading “Swearing in new Q.C.s” with additional working annotations.
 
The composition presents three related scenes: the formal bowing of the new QC before the bench, a moment of mishap within the bar as a wig is unsettled, and the informal congratulations in the corridors afterwards. The captioned dialogue and visual sequencing are characteristic of Cleaver’s sketches produced for illustrated weeklies at the turn of the century. The reference to Queen’s Counsel confirms a date prior to 1901, during Queen Victoria’s reign, aligning with Cleaver’s regular contributions to The Graphic at around the turn of the last century.