Style Starters: Liberty's of London Peacock Fabric, 1887

Textile
Roller Printed
Designed by Arthur Silver for Liberty's of London, 1887
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Here, we see a textile sample from a roller-printed cotton which was used for furnishings, as curtains or upholstery. The brilliantly colored tail feathers of peacocks were very popular motifs with designers of the Aesthetic Movement. In addition to being a popular theme in textiles both for home and fashion, the feathers themselves were often used in the home—placed in vases and containers to add rich color to any space.  That’s a trick that I use around my own 1890s home and I must say it’s an elegant addition to a room.

This pattern was drawn in 1887 by Arthur Silver who set up the Silver Studio at Brook Green in 1880, later moving to Haarlem Road, Hammersmith, London. The Silver Studio was renowned for its designs and supplies them to a host of high-end retailers.

This particular textile was originally sold through Liberty's on Regent Street, London.  Liberty’s notably helped proliferate the Aesthetic style in England. This pattern was resurrected for the V&A's Liberty exhibition in 1975 and has since become almost a trademark for the company.

Reverse of the fabric.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: A Work Box, 1815

Work Box, 1815
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Here, we see a work box of wood and leather from the early part of the Nineteenth Century. Work boxes, were ostensibly containers for sewing and embroidery tools and materials, and were made up of many small compartments which allowed for easy organization. This particular box from the Victoria & Albert Museum also features a secret drawer behind the drawer at the front—a rather uncommon design for such a box--which opens by pulling a hidden catch. Clearly, this is an expensive example for a workbox and would have been made for a lady of leisure. Its leather cover and scene-printed silk lining tell us that this box, though practical, was also meant to be a luxurious status symbol.

The box retains most of its original fittings, including two fixed pin cushions which are covered with printed silk, and several lidded compartments. It still boasts its collection of small tools and souvenirs, such as a pin cushion in inlaid wood with silk-covered cushions at each end. This adorable cushion still bears a paper label that reads 'A trifle from BRIGHTON'. An ivory tape measure with its original silk tape, and a tiny circular needle case covered in green silk complete the set.

A brass plaque on the outside of the lid has not been engraved with initials, so we’ll never know to whom this box originally belonged. It was, however, purchased in the 1930s by Queen Mary, consort of George V (ruled 1910-1936) who made great efforts to collect as many various items from the Georgian and Victorian periods as she could. As she often did, Queen Mary bought this box with the V&A in mind. She gifted the item to the museum immediately after its purchase

The Home Beautiful: A Minton Tile, 1880

Tile
Minton, 1880
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Made circa 1880 by Minton, this earthenware tile was stenciled with a design before being glazed and fired.  The stenciled pattern depicts four scenes: a sunrise, a balloon, a toad and a rooster.

It was made at Minton’s Stoke-on-Trent, England, Factory and was part of a large set of tiles depicting similarly bucolic scenes predominantly in browns and blues.  

The Home Beautiful: A Cast Iron Fireplace with Ceramic Tiles, 1905

The Victoria & Albert Museum

The Victoria & Albert Museum is filled with almost anything imaginable from toys to diapers and diamonds to entire rooms from houses.  So, it’s not surprising that we should see an entire fireplace from 1905 in their collection.  

This fireplace is an example of the sort of modern fireplace which came about in the early Twentieth Century--its raised grate was developed when coal replaced wood as the standard domestic fuel.

Like others of the era, this fireplace is made of cast iron and set with decorative ceramic tiles. Cast-iron fireplaces were made of flat plates cast in moulds and then assembled later.  Iron founders such as Carron and Coalbrookdale offered a large range of fireplaces in their catalogs in a variety of styles and tile colors. The tiles serve as decoration, but also to reflect the heat efficiently.  

This particular cast-iron fireplace came from a house in Chiswick.  It is stamped with the name and address of the original founder, Planet Foundry Co. Ltd, Guide Bridge, Manchester.

Object of the day, Museum Edition: A Beaded Tea Cozy, 1860

Beaded Tea Cozy
England, 1860
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Our Victorian Forebears took great care in ensuring that even the most utilitarian of objects was as attractive as possible. Today, let’s look at one such object—a tea cozy (or, as our U.K. friends spell it, “cosy,”) which was designed to be placed over a pot of tea in order to keep it warm.

This tea cozy was made around 1860 in London and is decorated with glass beads. This was made by an amateur embroiderer in the home for purposes of domestic use. Here, we see a design of roses and lilies on a bright blue ground. This sort of design and color palette is characteristic of Mid-Victorian decorative arts. This is the sort of cozy that would have been kept for special occasions and would have been used with the “best” silver or porcelain tea—reserved to impress special visitors or for use on important occasions.

Such beadwork was the height of fashion in the 1850s and 1860s and I’m a big fan of it. Beads were often used to adorn Victorian embroidered decoration on everything from fashion to upholstery and found use in a wide range of domestic items.

Most likely, the beads came from Germany or Italy where the glass industries produced and exported vast numbers of such beads in a brilliant variety of colors. The beads that we see here were known as :pound” beads because they were purchased by weight. These came in two popular types—bright opaque colors and translucent clear shades. Both can be seen utilized here.

The Home Beautiful: Trimming from Houldsworth & Co., 1853

Silk Embroidered Trimming
Made by Houldsworth & Co. for the 1853 Dublin Exhibition
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The section of trimming that we see pictured above would have been used as upholstery edging.  However, the real reason that this band was made was to demonstrate the capabilities of Henry Houldsworth’s embroidery machine.

Henry Houldsworth--a Manchester silk spinner, purchased his first industrial embroidery machine in 1829.  Along with the machine, he purchased the British patent rights from Mulhouse in France, where it had been invented in 1828.

Houldsworth and a fellow manufacturer, Louis Schwabe, worked together to improve the machine.  By 1834, the duo had perfected the machine to their satisfaction.  Schwabe's first successful use of the machine concentrated on embroidery for theatrical costumes, especially men's waistcoats.

After Schwabe's death in 1845, Houldsworth took over the business. From this time it was known as  Houldsworth & Co.  The company would become the leading manufacturer of machine embroidery in Britain, exhibiting their wares at the Great Exhibition of 1851.

This piece of embroidery, made in 1853 for the Dublin International Exhibition, is akin to the example exhibited at the Great Exhibition.  This was created by the famed machine which was operated by up to five girls at a time, working up to forty-two needles to create the complicated patterns and ombré (a shaded gradation of color) which were remarkable identical on both sides.

Unusual Artifacts: A Wrought Iron Ornament, 1851

Wrought Iron Ornament
English, 1851
The Victoria & Albert Museum

One thinks more of wrought iron as a decoration from the 1970’s than from the 1850’s, but we can see that the objects which graced our groovy coffee tables had their roots in far more attractive places. This wrought iron ornament takes the form of a six-flowered lily and combines Naturalismand neo-Gothic elements.

It is clearly inspired by Thirteenth Century English ironwork—such as might be found in Westminster Abbey. A.W.N. Pugin (1812-1852)m designer of Westminster Hall, was a proponent of decorative ironwork and helped usher it into common popularity.


This was made for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London and was the work of Frederick Crook. Curiously, Crook wasn’t a traditional artist. He was, instead, a caterer and manufacturer of cooking equipment who tried his hand at design. Clearly he did a good job of it since he was awarded a bronze medal for this piece.

The Home Beautiful: Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Wallpaper, 1897

The Victoria & Albert Museum

We’ve seen other examples of wallpapers created expressly for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897.  This is the most abstract and vibrantly-colored, indicative of the coming rise of the Arts and Crafts Movement.  

The design for the wallpaper depicts a crown, rose, thistle, shamrock and acanthus, in green, yellow and blue.  This sample is signed in ink by C. F. A. Voysey. Architect. 23, York Place W.

Drawing of the Day: Windsor Castle: The King's Bedroom (west elevation), 1827

Design for the Bath at the King's Bedroom, Windsor Castle
More & Seddon, 1827
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection

Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

This drawing was returned to the Royal Collection when Queen Elizabeth II purchased it at an auction in 1971. The drawing was created by the Office of Morel & Seddon, decorators who were contracted to redecorate Windsor Castle in 1827 during the reign of King George IV.

The watercolor depicts a view of an alcove with a bath cabinet in the center. The recess is framed by curtains and backed with a mirror. It was part of the new private suite which King George IV has envisioned for himself in the central part of the east front of the castle. This part of the suite was to be hidden behind a cabinet with doors of pietra dura.

The blue silk hangings were based on some made by Grand Frères of Lyons in 1823 for the Salon des Princes at the château of Saint-Cloud. Despite the room’s handsome décor, King George IV didn’t like the finished product. He found the room unsuitable and moved to an adjacent room in 1829. The suite, however, was used by Queen Victoria and, it was in the bedroom in which Prince Albert died in 1861. 

Unusual Artifacts: A Straw Marquetry Bellows, 1770

Bellows, c. 1770
French in the Chinoiserie Style
Straw marquetry on a wooden frame.
The Victoria & Albert Museum

A bellows such as this would have been used to maintain a fire by puffing air into it in order to add oxygen, encouraging it to burn more fiercely.

This bellows was made in 1770 as part of a suite of decorative, but useful items, designed for use in a fashionable “Chinese”-style interior.  The scene, in the popular Chinoiserie style, depicts two men in loose robes and long moustaches holding a parasol and a cymbal. 

This is a work of straw marquetry—a technique which developed  in France between circa 1760 and 1830. The technique was achieved with straw which was split and flattened, then glued into place on thin paper on which the design had been drawn. This paper was then glued to a wooden carcass, which was usually covered first with a thicker paper. Color would be added to the surface, and then varnished to achieve the glossy appearance of marquetry.

Straw marquetry was most often used for small objects like this bellows, but sometimes, larger pieces of furniture were decorated in this way.  However, because the straw work is very fragile, it is very rare for pieces to survive in good condition.

Unusual Artifacts: Devonshire Villas, 1900

Devonshire Villas No. 3
England, 1900
This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This isn’t a dollhouse. It’s actually a replica of an actual house that stood in Kilburn, North London in the Devonshire Villas. The house, No. 3—now long gone—was once the home of Mr. Samuel Loebl who commissioned this model as a gift for his daughter, Cecy, so that she would have a record of her childhood home. The model was made in 1900 and it passed from Cecy to her own daughter who donated it to the V&A in 1972.

The model, like the real house on High Road in Northwest London had been, is decorated in the height of early Twentieth Century fashion—much in the Art Nouveau style--and includes a host of “modern” amenities, including a fitted bathroom with a double sink in the kitchen. The bathroom walls are outfitted with "sanitary" wallpaper—paper coated with a special material which allowed it to be washed, a new concept at the time. The nursery, almost an exact replica of the real thing, was filled with miniature toys and a colorful frieze.

The most interesting thing, perhaps, is that the model contains a small telephone. The six room replica also depicts the house’s conservatory (separated from the drawing room by a beaded curtain). The hallway of the model also replicates the handsome stained glass window of the original house.

Cecy Loebl even had a hand in the decorating of the model. She made the carpets, lampshades and furniture upholstery to match those of the real house’s bedroom and drawing room.

The replica was exhibited at a 1925 Toy Fair in Frankfurt where it was wholly praised for the fine replication of the original house.

Style Starters: Liberty's of London Peacock Fabric, 1887

Textile
Roller Printed
Designed by Arthur Silver for Liberty's of London, 1887
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Here, we see a textile sample from a roller-printed cotton which was used for furnishings, as curtains or upholstery. The brilliantly colored tail feathers of peacocks were very popular motifs with designers of the Aesthetic Movement. In addition to being a popular theme in textiles both for home and fashion, the feathers themselves were often used in the home—placed in vases and containers to add rich color to any space.  That’s a trick that I use around my own 1890s home and I must say it’s an elegant addition to a room.

This pattern was drawn in 1887 by Arthur Silver who set up the Silver Studio at Brook Green in 1880, later moving to Haarlem Road, Hammersmith, London. The Silver Studio was renowned for its designs and supplies them to a host of high-end retailers.

 
This particular textile was originally sold through Liberty's on Regent Street, London.  Liberty’s notably helped proliferate the Aesthetic style in England. This pattern was resurrected for the V&A's Liberty exhibition in 1975 and has since become almost a trademark for the company.

Reverse of the fabric.

The Home Beautiful: The Mistletoe Wallpaper, 1850

The Victoria & Albert Museum

Here, we see a design for a festive wallpaper which depicts a festive line of formal, yet, stylized, pattern of pale-green birds who are perched amidst trees and mistletoe. The background is of black, white and yellow vertical stripes.

This proposed design of pencil. and watercolor on paper is Signed in ink C. F. A. V and inscribed with notes about possible production and variation.

Made in England around 1850, this design is the work of an artist known only as "Voysey." it's unknown if the paper was ever manufactured.

Her Majesty's Furniture: The Plum Pudding Desk, 1800-20

Desk of Plum Pudding Mahogany
The Victoria & Albert Museum

John Jones, a keen collector of French decorative arts from 1700 to 1800, left his collection to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1882.  While many of his pieces were truly magnificent and authentic, many were later proven to be copies.  Jones, of course, wasn’t aware of this, and had been conned by clever forgers who knew that, at the time, at least, their counterfeits would not be spotted.  Now, of course, with science on our side, we’re able to spot these forgeries.

Here’s a famous piece from Jones’ collection which was originally thought to be something much grander and older than it turned out to be.  The curators of the V&A now feel that this handsome desk actually was made between 1800 and 1820 as a much simpler piece (without the porcelain plaques) of furniture.

The desk was probably veneered all over with the dappled mahogany that is now seen everywhere except the doors. This kind of veneer is colloquially known as “plum pudding” mahogany and was very fashionable at the beginning of the 19th century.

The circular plaques were most likely added between 1860 and 1880, in imitation of the Sèvres porcelain plaques that were used on furniture in the 1780s. These plaques, it seems were created made from old plates, but the original decoration has been removed with acid, and this floral decoration added.

The goal with this deception was to make the desk look as if it had been made in the1780s.  Jones purchased the desk believing this to be true.

Nonetheless, the piece of oak, pine and mahogany, veneered with plain mahogany and 'plum pudding' mahogany, with its gilt-bronze mounts, doors set with circular plaques of painted porcelain, and top set with a slab of Carrara marble, is still attractive even if it wasn’t an important French antique.

The Home Beautiful: The William Morris "Fruit" Wallpaper, 1862

Sketch for Fruit Wallpaper
William Morris, 1862
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Designer and famous socialist William Morris (1834-1896) is known for his handsome designs and patterns. His style developed over the decades. Here’s a look at an early wallpaper pattern which is known both as “Fruit” and “Pomegranate” and dates from around 1862.

Morris used visual motifs from his medieval-style tapestry work, relying on the historical look which his earlier work shared with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. We see, however, the awakenings of Morris’ interest in naturalism and plants.

This sketch varies from the finished wallpaper. The olives were replaced with peaches in the finished product. Morris deemed the olives too delicate and difficult to see. The pattern forms the basis for the original wallpaper which was used for the V&A's Green Dining Room, circa 1866—now long gone.

The Home Beautiful: Queen Alexandra's Elephant Bell-Push, 1896-1900

Bell-Push
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Alexandra, consort of the rather lusty Edward VII, amused herself while her husband was dating other women by collecting the work of the House of Fabergé—especially wee animals made of precious stones. This collection was one of the few things upon which Queen Alexandra and her daughter-in-law, the Duchess of York (later Queen Mary, Consort of George V) could agree as both enjoyed this particular hobby.


When one collects Fabergé animals, it’s only natural, after amassing a few hundred, that one would start to commission unusual pieces to make the collection a little more exciting. So, why not a bell-push shaped like an elephant?

Here, made between 1896 and 1900 in nephrite, silver, and guilloché enamel, and rubies we see such a bell-push. Even though Fabergé was bes known for opulent decorative items, they did occasionally produce practical items, among which bell-pushes were some of the most functional and complicated. Such bell-pushes were designed to sit upon a desk.

Here, the push-piece is in the form of a silver elephant set with cabochon ruby eyes. The elephant is a reference to Queen Alexandra’s native Denmark, where the elephant is incorporated in the design of the senior Danish order of chivalry.

The elephant, here, stands on a tapered platform of salmon-pink guilloché enamel with a nephrite base. It bears the mark of Fabergé ‘s Karl Armfelt; with a silver mark of 88 zolotniks (1896-1908); and Fabergé in Cyrillic characters.

The Home Beautiful: Chinese Wallpaper, c. 1810-1830

Wallpaper
China, c. 1810-1830
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Alive with the colors of ripe fruits, flowers and birds, this wallpaper was made between 1810 and 1830 in Guangzhou, China. This was part of a set of exotic wallpapers which was designed for export to Europe to satisfy the growing demand at the time for Chinoiserie. Though this Asian-inspired style enjoyed new popularity in the early Nineteenth Century, the export of this kind of hand-painted wallpaper wasn’t new. The first painted papers exported to Europe from China arrived in the 1690s. Chinese craftsmen purposely included European ideals and fashions into their papers—combining their native styles with themes which they knew would appeal to European tastes and fashions. 

Her Majesty's Furniture: A Piano Stool. 19th C.

Piano Stool
Mid-Nineteenth Century
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection 
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Made in England in the mid-Nineteenth Century specifically for use in Buckingham Palace, this piano stool was constructed of costly rosewood. Adjustable in height, the stool is upholstered in a hand-made floral needlework.

The stool stands on three turned supports which are joined by a triangular stretcher. The supports stand around a central column which was designed to conceal the threading mechanism which allows the height to be adjusted. The whole of it rests on outward splaying legs with block feet.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: A Mother of Pearl Veneered Desk Set, Austria, 1910

Desk Set
Vienna, 1910
The Victoria and Albert Museum

Today, we’ll be looking at objects which use mother-of-pearl. Mother-of-pearl has long been celebrated for its beauty and has been employed in all manner of art for centuries. This beautiful medium was never more popular than in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Let’s begin by taking a look at a stunning suite of objects from the last gasp of the Edwardian era.

Here, we see a desk set from 1910 which was made in Vienna as designed by Josef Hoffmann, and manufactured by Wiener Werkstätte. The whole of the set is veneered in mother-of-pearl and ebony, with bases lined with black cloth, and other elements of leather, glass and silver plate.

The set consists of an inkstand, a candlestick, a penholder, a seal, and a card holder. The inkstand is rectangular, veneered with rectangular plaques of mother-of-pearl and inlaid with a horizontal stringing of ebony. It features hollowed-out areas to support the candlestick and penholder. The candlestick takes a similar rectangular shape. It, too, is veneered with rectangular plaques of mother-of-pearl, the whole length of which is inlaid with two vertical strings of ebony per side. The top offers a circular silver-plated inset to hold a candle.

The matching penholder is veneered with similar plaques of mother-of-pearl and strings of ebony with the top boasting a circular silver-plated inset to hold pens. Meanwhile, the seal of matching materials has a top with a square silver-plated inset. And, finally, the card holder is rectangular with one side higher than the other, the sides are veneered with rectangular plaques of mother-of-pearl, and inlaid with vertical stringing of ebony. The sloping top features a rectangular inlaid pocket of leather.

Small luxury objects such as this, veneered in mother-of-pearl, were produced in great numbers in Vienna in the Biedermeier period (1815-1840). About sixty years later, the designers of the Wiener Werkstätte Co. reintroduced the material, but the shape of the early Twentieth-Century pieces is squarer with more geometrical applied adornment. By 1912, sets such as this one sold for tremendous amounts of money.