Images(12)

Curtain, Wool Embroidered

Date1770-1790

OriginGreat Britain

MediumCrewel wool on cotton and linen ground (fiber identification by textile lab)

DimensionsOH: 101 1/2" x OW: 67 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1952-480

DescriptionThis is a bed curtain embroidered with chain-stitched multicolor crewel wool floral sprigs in the center bordered by a running vine with a variety of flowers on three sides. The floral sprigs are arranged in a roughly mirrored diamond pattern in which the forms themselves are symmetrical but not the colors. The soft colors consist of shades of yellow, beige and tan, with floral sprigs in shades of red, pale blue, and green. The ground consists of two panels of linen warp and cotton weft plain-woven textiles stitched together down the center. The edges on all four sides are bound with folded-over linen tape and the panel is lined with white linen, both later additions.
Label TextThe delicate colors and design of this panel reveal the trend toward lighter neoclassically-influenced textiles in the second half of the eighteenth century. The long and relatively narrow shape of the panel suggest that it was originally used as a curtain for a tall-post bedstead.