DESIGNED BY JOHN HENRY DEARLE, WOVEN BY MORRIS & CO., CIRCA 1890

Details

A 'HAMMERSMITH' CARPET
DESIGNED BY JOHN HENRY DEARLE, WOVEN BY MORRIS & CO., CIRCA 1890
The sea-green field with an overall design of tulips and flowering tendrils woven horizontally, in a ruby-red border of alternate facing leaves enclosing smaller flowerheads, between narrow guard stripes, light surface marks, full pile throughout
7ft.5in. x 5ft.3in. (226 x 160cm.)

Provenance

Commissioned by Robert and Joanna Barr Smith, Auchendarroch, Mount Barker, South Australia.
Sold Sotheby's, Australia, 24 May 1993, lot 221.

Literature

C. Menz, exh. cat., Morris & Company: Pre-Raphaelites and the Arts & Crafts Movement in South Australia, Adelaide, 1994, pl. 144 (photograph of Mrs Barr Smith, c. 1897, seated in the morning room at Auchendarroch, showing this carpet).
C. Menz, exh. cat., Morris & Co., Adelaide, 2002, p. 165.
D. Breuer et. al., Pre-Raphaelite and Other Masters, London, 2003, pp. 247, 310, cat. no. 195.

Exhibited

London, Royal Academy, Pre Raphaelite and Other Masters, 2003, no. 195

Special notice

Specified lots (sold and unsold) marked with a filled square not collected from Christie’s, 8 King Street, London SW1Y 6QT by 5.00pm on the day of the sale will, at our option, be removed to Crozier Park Royal (details below). Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. If the lot is transferred to Crozier Park Royal, it will be available for collection on the third business day after the sale. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Crozier Park Royal. All collections from Crozier Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s, 8 King Street, it will be available for collection on any working day (not weekends) from 9.00am to 5.00pm

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Amelia Walker Director, Specialist Head of Private & Iconic Collections

Check the condition report or get in touch for additional information about this

awalker@christies.com +44 20 7389 2085

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

View condition report

Lot Essay

Though Morris & Co. rug designs were influenced by Middle Eastern examples, the present lot illustrates how this was fused with influences closer to home. In 1881, Morris wrote that in his designs he wanted to use ‘the rose, the lily, the tulip, the oak, the vine, and all the herbs and trees that even we cockneys know about’ (S.B. Sherrill, Carpets and Rugs of Europe and America, New York, 1995, p. 295). The directional design of the present lot is typical of the work of Henry Dearle, who took over as Artistic Director of Morris & Co. on the death of its founder in 1896.

In the 1890s Morris & Co. designs enjoyed global popularity. Carpets were commissioned for the Chicago home of John G. Glessner, and four runners were woven for Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s Rhode Island retreat, ‘the Breakers’. This particular rug was one of a set woven for the homes of Robert and Joanna Barr Smith, with this one specifically intended to decorate the morning room of Auchendarroch, their country house in South Australia, and was photographed in situ, circa 1897 (C. Menz, op. cit., Adelaide, 1994 and 2002).

More from Three Private Collections: Belgravia, Berkshire and Guernsey

View All