Picture

Object name

Maker

Date made

1970

Place made

Description

Picture of a peacock in blue, pink, and gold fabric and lace, made by Thomasina Beck in 1970.

Content description

Stylised peacock made of layers of fabric, lace, and thread. The fabric collage sits on a brown vertically striped silk ground. The peacock itself is made from a variety of precisely cut printed cotton fabrics. Its neck, back, wings, and tail are embellished with gold machine-made lace and wool threads that have been abraded in order to make them fuzzy. The peacock's body is embellished with small panels of pink gauze to give it a pink tinge. Its neck is decorated with silver sequins and its eye is made from a white shell fastened down with gold thread. The feathers on its head are made of black silk embellished with black wool threads worked in stem stitch. These threads, too, have been purposefully made fuzzy. At the end of these feathers are gold threads and small semi-translucent beads.

This peacock is one of two similar peacocks produced by Thomasina Beck in 1970. Though the peacocks are of a similar shape and involve some similar materials, they differ in their colours, stitches, and embellishment.

Dimensions

width: 39.5cm
height: 51cm

Materials

Stitches

Motifs

Credit line

Gift of Thomasina Beck, 2015.

Catalogue number

COL.2015.4

Other numbers

RSN 2075
© Royal School of Needlework