Inscribed by the artist 'HMS BUTTERCUP', lower left, and signed 'NB Severn', lower right. An atmospheric but technically poor depiction of the 'Arabis'-class fleet sweeping sloop 'Buttercup', built by Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd at Whiteinch, Glasgow, and launched on 24 October 1915. The funnels are too tall and she should have an open hull side from the foremast to just abaft the second funnel, and a completely open well deck just ahead of the bridge. She was sold on 5 February 1920 as the salvage vessel 'Semper Paratus' (1915). Little is known about this early 20th-century artist, whose style here is practically amateur but whose works do appear quite often at auction and appears to have been fairly prolific.