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Lot Essay
Although the present silk panels were once believed to be fragments of the bedhangings of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia (1712 - 1786), stylistically the design dates from the first quarter of the nineteenth century and is reminiscent of the silk produced for Napoleon and his court by the top French silk weavers. It is interesting to speculate that the woven monogram 'FR' may refer to Frederick William III (1770-1840), the great nephew of Frederick the Great and the King of Prussia 1797-1840.
Lady Charlotte Schreiber (1812 - 1895) was the daughter of the 9th Earl of Lindsay. She married firstly Sir Josiah Guest, the Welsh iron magnate and famously ran his ironworks following his death. She married secondly Charles Schreiber, M.P., a distinguished Welsh scholar. Lady Charlotte Schreiber is remembered as a great collector of her age who generously gifted nearly 12,000 pieces of English, Continental and Chinese porcelain to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1884. Further gifts to the British Museum of fans and historic games followed in the 1890s. In 1911 her son, Montague Guest, published "Lady Charlotte Schreiber's Journals" which describes her collecting activities between 1869 and 1885. In her journals, the following entry relates to the present lot: "we went first to Seelig's.... we found what delighted us in the form of some yards of satin (which had never been made up) with all the insignia of Frederick the Great, his double-eagle, Suum cuique, etc. We took it home and think to use it in making a screen." (See Journals, Vol II, p. 224).
Lady Charlotte Schreiber (1812 - 1895) was the daughter of the 9th Earl of Lindsay. She married firstly Sir Josiah Guest, the Welsh iron magnate and famously ran his ironworks following his death. She married secondly Charles Schreiber, M.P., a distinguished Welsh scholar. Lady Charlotte Schreiber is remembered as a great collector of her age who generously gifted nearly 12,000 pieces of English, Continental and Chinese porcelain to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1884. Further gifts to the British Museum of fans and historic games followed in the 1890s. In 1911 her son, Montague Guest, published "Lady Charlotte Schreiber's Journals" which describes her collecting activities between 1869 and 1885. In her journals, the following entry relates to the present lot: "we went first to Seelig's.... we found what delighted us in the form of some yards of satin (which had never been made up) with all the insignia of Frederick the Great, his double-eagle, Suum cuique, etc. We took it home and think to use it in making a screen." (See Journals, Vol II, p. 224).