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Worked by Helen Mary Gaskell (1853-1940) to a sixteenth-century design translated by Burne Jones

An embroidered coverlet of undyed linen, worked in ecru, beige and blue silks, depicting the five senses Tactus, Visus, Auditus, Olfactus and Gustus, within an ochre and beige cotton fringed border

Details

Worked by Helen Mary Gaskell (1853-1940) to a sixteenth-century design translated by Burne Jones
An embroidered coverlet of undyed linen, worked in ecru, beige and blue silks, depicting the five senses Tactus, Visus, Auditus, Olfactus and Gustus, within an ochre and beige cotton fringed border
inscribed 'Worked by H M Gaskell 1910' and with inscriptions 'Subject the five sense, centre TACTUS with ... VISUS with Eagle AUDITUS with Pig OLFACTUS with Dog GUSTUS with Monkey. Taken from Old SWISS coverlet there are between 50 & 60 different stitches' and 'FROM MRS GASKELL C.B.E., 28 ALBION ST W2' (on an accompanying label)
59 x 62 in. (150 x 158 cm.)

Provenance

By descent in the family of Helen Mary (May) Gaskell to the present owner.

Literature

J. Dimbleby, A Profound Secret, London, 2004, pp. 147-8, 245-7.

Exhibited

London, Leighton House, 2004, A Profound Secret: Burne-Jones and the Gaskells (no cat.).

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

This quilt or coverlet was worked by May Gaskell from a sixteenth-century design translated for her by Burne-Jones and clearly showing something of his hand in its linear arabesques. Visiting the South Kensington (now Victoria and Albert) Museum, they had admired an embroidered quilt of Swiss or German origin dated 1580. Still in the collection, it represents the five senses- touch (tactus), sight (visus), hearing (auditus), smell (olfactus) and taste (gustus)- personified by female figures. Josceline Dimbleby describes how 'May wanted to reproduce this lovely work herself, so Burne-Jones gave her two little notebooks. "He used to go to the museum with me in the evenings", May wrote. "and draw the designs for me while I copied the very intricate stitches to work".'

The quilt was eventually completed in 1910, twelve years after Burne-Jones's death. Dimbleby reproduces a photograph of May Gaskell giving it the final touches (op.cit., facing p. 247).

The label gives May the C.B.E. she was awarded after the First World War for her work for the War Library. She moved to 28 Albion Street, Bayswater, in 1923.

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