.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The Drapers' Hall was a major client of Morris & Co. in the 1920s and 1930s. Their commissions included the present landing carpet and extensive stair carpeting in the 'Montreal' pattern in early 1934, and later that year a large carpet for the Court Room, (sold in these rooms on 5th May 1995, Lot 21). Documentation survives in the Drapers' Hall archives which records the process of selection involving the Master and Wardens, and their negotiations with H. C. Marillier at Morris & Co., Hanover Square.
In March 1934, the Clerk requested designs and patterns from Morris & Co. which were supplied on the 16th April. Marillier writes on 12th March 1934, ".... I am sending you separately two specimens of carpet design, one of Morris carpet in our own colouring, the other a conventional Persian design, of which of course there are many to choose from. I should like if I may to urge your council to have the Morris carpet, even if it strikes them at first as unusual. It will brighten up your staircase and landing enormously, and there is nothing for it to clash with. City dirt and much traffic will tend to dull down the brightness of the colouring in time, but no other City Company has a Morris carpet, and they are very highly thought of. The specimen I send has been recently woven for a leading Australian family. If you preferred it, we could reverse the colouring, making the body blue and the border red, but they are equally effective. The small plan shows our arrangement, with the border running continuously throughout, a better one than you have at present, and we should fix it so that there would be displacement from use. ...."
The Wardens' Minutes of 15th March 1934 record, "....That a Morris carpet, as per sample submitted, be purchased for the main staircase and landing at a cost of £373. 10. 0."
In March 1934, the Clerk requested designs and patterns from Morris & Co. which were supplied on the 16th April. Marillier writes on 12th March 1934, ".... I am sending you separately two specimens of carpet design, one of Morris carpet in our own colouring, the other a conventional Persian design, of which of course there are many to choose from. I should like if I may to urge your council to have the Morris carpet, even if it strikes them at first as unusual. It will brighten up your staircase and landing enormously, and there is nothing for it to clash with. City dirt and much traffic will tend to dull down the brightness of the colouring in time, but no other City Company has a Morris carpet, and they are very highly thought of. The specimen I send has been recently woven for a leading Australian family. If you preferred it, we could reverse the colouring, making the body blue and the border red, but they are equally effective. The small plan shows our arrangement, with the border running continuously throughout, a better one than you have at present, and we should fix it so that there would be displacement from use. ...."
The Wardens' Minutes of 15th March 1934 record, "....That a Morris carpet, as per sample submitted, be purchased for the main staircase and landing at a cost of £373. 10. 0."