Lot Essay
The embroideries are two of a set of four which hung in the passage connecting the old part of the castle to the banqueting hall which Scott erected to his own design in 1883-4. They seem almost certainly to be the work of William Morris and his circle, and Jan Marsh and Liz Woods, recording their 'pilgrimage' to Penkill in 1991, sought to identify them with a reference in a letter written by D. G. Rossetti, a close friend of Scott's, to Alice Boyd in November 1868. 'In the autumn of 1868 Rossetti visited Penkill, and on 17 November, after his return to London, he wrote to inquire of Alice Boyd: "I wonder has Scotts' [i.e. William Bell Scott's] peppermint-and-mud tint been applied yet to the wall surrounding the Topsaic tapestries - I saw it standing in tempting profusion ready for use" (O. Doughty and J. R. Wahl (eds.), Letters of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, II, 1965, pp.675-6). After explaining that 'Topsaic' is a reference to Morris, nicknamed 'Topsy' in his circle, and that 'tapestry' here is not used in a technical sense but merely denotes embroideries, the writers continue:
Up to now it has not been known what Rossetti was referring to in this letter, but the existence at Penkill of several large panels embroidered in crewel wools ... indicates that these are indeed the 'Topsaic tapestries' of 1868. They appear to have been cut down into four pieces (two large on the passage walls and two smaller on the door jambs leading into the hall) from what may have been two large pieces roughly six feet square.
These hangings are ... similar to William Morris's first essay in embroidery, the "If I Can" hanging of around 1857 now at Kelmscott Manor. They consist of solid overall "brick" stitching on what appears to be a linen backing ... The design is also roughly similar to that of "If I Can", with a repeating pattern consisting of tree, scroll and bird.
At Penkill the tree is large and its leaves and fruit laid flat, ("If I Can" has raised balls of wool for the fruit). The bird is a heron in the act of taking flight, with characteristically angled wings and long trailing legs. The scroll carries an inscription in lower-case Gothic lettering: "qui bien aime tard oublie" (who loves well forgets slowly). The yarn used is a thick worsted similar to that of the St Catherine and Penelope figures now at Kelmscott Manor... It would appear that these "Topsaic tapestries" are thus an early (perhaps the earliest) example of non-ecclesiastical embroidery produced by Morris & Co., and were probably executed by Jane Morris at a period when both Firm and family were located in Queen Square, central London.
This is an exciting discovery, because to date virtually nothing is known of the Firm's output in this department in the 1860s, apart from the Illustrious Women made for Red House (and therefore not strictly speaking by the Firm). It is known that in November 1868 Bell Scott's wife Letitia commissioned an altar cloth embroidery from Morris & Co., and it seems likely that the Heron wall hangings had been similarly commissioned by Bell Scott and Alice Boyd ... for one of the rooms at Penkill. We do not know in which room they originally hung, but Rossetti's reference to "peppermint-and-mud" colour for the surrounding wall indicates that they were conceived as part of a decorative scheme.
Whether or not the hangings are those mentioned by Rossetti in his letter of 1868, they can surely be firmly attributed to the Morris circle on grounds of style and their close relationship to the few embroideries which exist from the earliest years of Morris's activity as designer and craftsman. The St. Catherine and Penelope figures to which Marsh and Woods refer belong to a series of heroines ('Illustrious Women') made for Morris's own Red House about 1861. A third figure, Isoud, is also at Kelmscott, and three more, made into a screen for George Howard in 1889, survive (Linda Parry, William Morris Textiles, 1983, pp. 22-23, illustrated). Morris was responsible for the designs, and they were probably executed by his wife Jane and her sister Bessie, to whom Morris taught the embroidery techniques he had developed. Georgiana Burne-Jones, another pupil, may also have been involved.
But a far more significant comparison is with the embroidery at Kelmscott incorporating into its repeating pattern Morris's personal variant of Jan Van Eyck's motto 'Als ich kanne' (Parry, op. cit., p.12, illustrated). Mentioned by J. W. Mackail in his Life of Morris (1899) and dating from 1857, this seminal piece resembles the Penkill panels in almost every respect - the materials used, the stitches employed, the overall colour scheme, and the three principal motifs of flowering trees, birds in flight, and a scroll bearing an inscription. Linda Parry describes the "If I Can" hanging as follows: 'The technique is ... a series of irregular long and short stiches randomly placed which form a stiff cloth of similar texture and weight to woven tapestry. Embroidered with thick, brightly coloured aniline-dyed crewel wools (those most readily available in needleworkshops at that time), the design has a charming naivety enhanced now by its faded colours and hopelessly stylised birds. In comparison the trees are elegantly worked and their raised fruit provide relief to the densely textured surface. Besides being the only example showing this primitive technique and the use of chemical dyestuffs, it is also the only known embroidery to have been worked by William Morris alone, for having mastered the technique to his satisfaction he soon felt that he could teach others the stitches he favoured and leave them to work the embroideries from his designs.' (op.cit., p. 11).
The similarity to the "If I Can" panel strongly suggests that Morris himself was the designer of the present embroideries. However, recent dye analysis has shown that our panels postdate the Kelmscott embroidery, as they incorporate a synthetic violet dye not availble until the early 1860s. Linda Parry suggests that they are likely to be the type of hangings exhibited at the 1862 International Exhibition, described by Christopher Dresser as 'a series of quaint fabrics' and in The Ecclesiologist (vol. XX, 1862) as 'antique looking tapestry-hangings... effective in colour, but of rude manufacture and (we fancy) not at all econonmical.' Such 'tapestries' were priced at £3 per square yard on the firm's stand (see William Morris, exh. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1996, cat. p. 235).
We grateful to Linda Parry for her help with preparing this entry.
Up to now it has not been known what Rossetti was referring to in this letter, but the existence at Penkill of several large panels embroidered in crewel wools ... indicates that these are indeed the 'Topsaic tapestries' of 1868. They appear to have been cut down into four pieces (two large on the passage walls and two smaller on the door jambs leading into the hall) from what may have been two large pieces roughly six feet square.
These hangings are ... similar to William Morris's first essay in embroidery, the "If I Can" hanging of around 1857 now at Kelmscott Manor. They consist of solid overall "brick" stitching on what appears to be a linen backing ... The design is also roughly similar to that of "If I Can", with a repeating pattern consisting of tree, scroll and bird.
At Penkill the tree is large and its leaves and fruit laid flat, ("If I Can" has raised balls of wool for the fruit). The bird is a heron in the act of taking flight, with characteristically angled wings and long trailing legs. The scroll carries an inscription in lower-case Gothic lettering: "qui bien aime tard oublie" (who loves well forgets slowly). The yarn used is a thick worsted similar to that of the St Catherine and Penelope figures now at Kelmscott Manor... It would appear that these "Topsaic tapestries" are thus an early (perhaps the earliest) example of non-ecclesiastical embroidery produced by Morris & Co., and were probably executed by Jane Morris at a period when both Firm and family were located in Queen Square, central London.
This is an exciting discovery, because to date virtually nothing is known of the Firm's output in this department in the 1860s, apart from the Illustrious Women made for Red House (and therefore not strictly speaking by the Firm). It is known that in November 1868 Bell Scott's wife Letitia commissioned an altar cloth embroidery from Morris & Co., and it seems likely that the Heron wall hangings had been similarly commissioned by Bell Scott and Alice Boyd ... for one of the rooms at Penkill. We do not know in which room they originally hung, but Rossetti's reference to "peppermint-and-mud" colour for the surrounding wall indicates that they were conceived as part of a decorative scheme.
Whether or not the hangings are those mentioned by Rossetti in his letter of 1868, they can surely be firmly attributed to the Morris circle on grounds of style and their close relationship to the few embroideries which exist from the earliest years of Morris's activity as designer and craftsman. The St. Catherine and Penelope figures to which Marsh and Woods refer belong to a series of heroines ('Illustrious Women') made for Morris's own Red House about 1861. A third figure, Isoud, is also at Kelmscott, and three more, made into a screen for George Howard in 1889, survive (Linda Parry, William Morris Textiles, 1983, pp. 22-23, illustrated). Morris was responsible for the designs, and they were probably executed by his wife Jane and her sister Bessie, to whom Morris taught the embroidery techniques he had developed. Georgiana Burne-Jones, another pupil, may also have been involved.
But a far more significant comparison is with the embroidery at Kelmscott incorporating into its repeating pattern Morris's personal variant of Jan Van Eyck's motto 'Als ich kanne' (Parry, op. cit., p.12, illustrated). Mentioned by J. W. Mackail in his Life of Morris (1899) and dating from 1857, this seminal piece resembles the Penkill panels in almost every respect - the materials used, the stitches employed, the overall colour scheme, and the three principal motifs of flowering trees, birds in flight, and a scroll bearing an inscription. Linda Parry describes the "If I Can" hanging as follows: 'The technique is ... a series of irregular long and short stiches randomly placed which form a stiff cloth of similar texture and weight to woven tapestry. Embroidered with thick, brightly coloured aniline-dyed crewel wools (those most readily available in needleworkshops at that time), the design has a charming naivety enhanced now by its faded colours and hopelessly stylised birds. In comparison the trees are elegantly worked and their raised fruit provide relief to the densely textured surface. Besides being the only example showing this primitive technique and the use of chemical dyestuffs, it is also the only known embroidery to have been worked by William Morris alone, for having mastered the technique to his satisfaction he soon felt that he could teach others the stitches he favoured and leave them to work the embroideries from his designs.' (op.cit., p. 11).
The similarity to the "If I Can" panel strongly suggests that Morris himself was the designer of the present embroideries. However, recent dye analysis has shown that our panels postdate the Kelmscott embroidery, as they incorporate a synthetic violet dye not availble until the early 1860s. Linda Parry suggests that they are likely to be the type of hangings exhibited at the 1862 International Exhibition, described by Christopher Dresser as 'a series of quaint fabrics' and in The Ecclesiologist (vol. XX, 1862) as 'antique looking tapestry-hangings... effective in colour, but of rude manufacture and (we fancy) not at all econonmical.' Such 'tapestries' were priced at £3 per square yard on the firm's stand (see William Morris, exh. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1996, cat. p. 235).
We grateful to Linda Parry for her help with preparing this entry.