Home / Illustration / A Souple Jade
Illustration

A Souple Jade

Tam o' Shanter · Illustration

A Souple Jade, an illustration by Bruce Thomson of Nannie dancing among small red devils outside the Kirk of Alloway

Nannie, the witch in her short cutty sark, dancing among small red devils outside the Kirk of Alloway, with the gravestones and skulls at her feet. The title is Burns' line: a souple jade she was, and strang.

This is the moment Tam cannot look away from: Nannie, the one young witch among the hags, dancing in her short cutty sark. “A souple jade she was, and strang,” wrote Burns, and it is the image the whole poem turns on. It belongs to Bruce Thomson’s Glenfarclas 40 Year Old whisky commission, told in full in the journal.

View in the galleryThe commissionEnquire

Enquiries about this work are welcome. Contact the estate.

More from the Burns illustrations

The Witch on the Cannon, an illustration by Bruce Thomson of a witch astride a cannon outside the Kirk of AllowayThe Witch on the Cannon · Tam o' Shanter · IllustrationThey Danced and They Sang, an illustration by Bruce Thomson of three beggars dancing above the neck of a fiddleThey Danced and They Sang · The Jolly Beggars · IllustrationThe Brig o' Doon, an illustration by Bruce Thomson of Maggie's leap across the bridge as a witch grasps her tailThe Brig o' Doon · Tam o' Shanter · Illustration