Picture
Object name
Designer
Date made
Late 19th century
Place made
Description
Late 19th-century flowerpot embroidery based on a design by William Morris.
Content description
Late 19th-century flowerpot embroidery based on a design by William Morris. This piece is worked predominantly in chain stitch in cotton threads and features a blue flowerpot with a riot of pink flowers and yellow and green leaves surrounding it. The flowers and the vase are accented with cream-coloured French knots and some of the lines inside the vase are worked in stem stitches.
This design, 'Flowerpot', was designed by William Morris circa 1876. Multiple renditions of this embroidery, such as those in the William Morris Gallery (F154) and Victoria and Albert Museum (T.68-1939), were embroidered by Morris' daughter May Morris. This pattern could be bought as a finished embroidery made by the Firm's embroidery department, as a kit, as a traced pattern to be worked at home, or as a partly started embroidery to be finished at home. It is not known who worked the RSN's version.
This pattern was intended for use as a cushion cover or fire screen. The 'flowerpot' pattern, probably William Morris's last design for embroidery, was inspired by two 17th-century Italian lacis-work panels acquired by the South Kensington Museum, now the Victoria and Albert Museum.
In addition to the renditions of this piece at the V&A and William Morris Gallery, there are further examples in the National Museums Liverpool, Birmingham Museum, and the Embroiderers’ Guild. William Morris’s original design drawing for it is in the William Morris Gallery’s collection (A1061) and another version is in the William Morris Society’s collection.
This design, 'Flowerpot', was designed by William Morris circa 1876. Multiple renditions of this embroidery, such as those in the William Morris Gallery (F154) and Victoria and Albert Museum (T.68-1939), were embroidered by Morris' daughter May Morris. This pattern could be bought as a finished embroidery made by the Firm's embroidery department, as a kit, as a traced pattern to be worked at home, or as a partly started embroidery to be finished at home. It is not known who worked the RSN's version.
This pattern was intended for use as a cushion cover or fire screen. The 'flowerpot' pattern, probably William Morris's last design for embroidery, was inspired by two 17th-century Italian lacis-work panels acquired by the South Kensington Museum, now the Victoria and Albert Museum.
In addition to the renditions of this piece at the V&A and William Morris Gallery, there are further examples in the National Museums Liverpool, Birmingham Museum, and the Embroiderers’ Guild. William Morris’s original design drawing for it is in the William Morris Gallery’s collection (A1061) and another version is in the William Morris Society’s collection.
Dimensions
height: 63cm
width: 63cm
width: 63cm
Materials
Stitches
Motifs
Catalogue number
RSN.281
© Royal School of Needlework