Lot Essay
The pattern for "Oak" silk was designed by William Morris in circa 1880-1; for illustration see Oliver Fairclough and Emmeline Leary, Textiles by William Morris and Co. 1861-1940, 1981, page 97.
PROPERTY OF A RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION
A Morris and Company portière of pale blue silk damask woven with "Oak" pattern, embroidered in coloured silks with fruit trees and smaller flowering shrubs entwined with a large vine leaf, the background worked with ivy and small flowerheads, the top worked in black silk with the inscription "Lo silken my garden, silken my sky and silken the apple boughs hanging on high"--110in x 54in., lined and interlined (added later), worn, designed by Henry Dearle and May Morris, circa 1890
Details
A Morris and Company portière of pale blue silk damask woven with "Oak" pattern, embroidered in coloured silks with fruit trees and smaller flowering shrubs entwined with a large vine leaf, the background worked with ivy and small flowerheads, the top worked in black silk with the inscription "Lo silken my garden, silken my sky and silken the apple boughs hanging on high"--110in x 54in., lined and interlined (added later), worn, designed by Henry Dearle and May Morris, circa 1890
Provenance
Mrs Gertrude Wormald of Hill Street, London and Hardwick Grange, Shropshire, who died in 1897.
Literature
Cf Linda Parry, William Morris Textiles, 1983, page 30 for an illustration of a similar hanging without the inscription designed by Henry Dearle in circa 1890 embroidered on to Oak silk damask by Mrs Battye.
Cf Linda Parry, Textiles of the Arts and Crafts Movement, 1988, plate 79 for an illustration of "Orchard" a similar wall hanging with different inscription by May Morris, 1896.
Cf Linda Parry, Textiles of the Arts and Crafts Movement, 1988, plate 79 for an illustration of "Orchard" a similar wall hanging with different inscription by May Morris, 1896.