The Home Beautiful: Curtain Samples for Windsor Castle, 1853

This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Queen Victoria admired the decoration executed in 1850 for the Emperor Napoleon III in his French palaces. Of course, Victoria wanted to “keep up with the Royal Joneses” and ordered a scheme of redecoration for Windsor Castle that would compete with Napoleon’s ambitious new décor.  She commissioned a local department store, Caley Brothers of Windsor, to supply examples of textiles.  

These four textile samples were chosen by Caley Brothers as a proposed set of new grand draperies for Windsor castle.  The green ribbed silk was used for the main body of the curtains while the figured silk ribbon (with the rose of England, the thistle of Scotland and the shamrock of Ireland) in green and white was used to trim the vertical edges of the curtains and the green silk fringe for other edges. The drapes were to be lined with the shiny green silk taffeta.

A handwritten label originally attached to one of the samples states:

“Supplied to Queen Victoria for curtains at Windsor Castle.”

The London interior decorating firm of Colefax & Fowler was employed to work on schemes for the castle based on these fabric choices. A similar motif was ultimately used for the new draperies.  

Unusual Artifacts: Brass Curtain Tie-Backs, 1845

Cast Brass Drapery Tie-Backs
John Hands, 1845
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Typically, the long heavy curtains in the drawing rooms or dining rooms of posh Nineteenth Century London homes were tied back in the window cornices to allow as much light as possible into the room. For this purpose, special ornamental hooks were designed to act as tie-backs.

The design for the examples we see above was registered in August of 1845 by coincidentally-named John Hands of Prospect Row, Birmingham, who was a brass founder.  Originally, these tie-back ornaments were described in the register as “metal ornaments to be fixed on the end of window cornices.”

The pair is rendered as an individual lady's hand holding a bouquet of flowers.  This was a fashionable theme at the time.  Single hands were often used in the decorative arts for everything from vases to ornamental handles.

 

They’re quite attractive, I think.  Such metal tie-backs have had a resurgence in popularity in recent years in homes with grand windows and long, fashionable drapes.

The Home Beautiful: Curtain Samples for Windsor Castle, 1853

This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Queen Victoria admired the decoration executed in 1850 for the Emperor Napoleon III in his French palaces. Of course, Victoria wanted to “keep up with the Royal Joneses” and ordered a scheme of redecoration for Windsor Castle that would compete with Napoleon’s ambitious new décor.  She commissioned a local department store, Caley Brothers of Windsor, to supply examples of textiles. 

These four textile samples were chosen by Caley Brothers as a proposed set of new grand draperies for Windsor castle.  The green ribbed silk was used for the main body of the curtains while the figured silk ribbon (with the rose of England, the thistle of Scotland and the shamrock of Ireland) in green and white was used to trim the vertical edges of the curtains and the green silk fringe for other edges. The drapes were to be lined with the shiny green silk taffeta.

A handwritten label originally attached to one of the samples states:

“Supplied to Queen Victoria for curtains at Windsor Castle.”

The London interior decorating firm of Colefax & Fowler was employed to work on schemes for the castle based on these fabric choices. A similar motif was ultimately used for the new draperies.  

Word of the Day: Pelmet

A pelmet is another word for a cornice.  These decorative features are hung as a framework above a window.  Usually made of wood which is painted, stained or covered in fabric, a pelmet serves several purposes.  First, it conceals drapery hardware.  Secondly, it acts as further insulation.  A pelmet is similar to a valance, however, a valance is made entirely of fabric.  Adding a pelmet to existing draperies is an excellent way of creating a sense of grandeur in a room by giving the windows greater height and creating a new architectural element.