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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C , Case MB2D, Shelf DR112, Box T183

Design

1727 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Design probably for embroidery, in pale and dark red, blue and green, depicting stylised floral and foliate motifs covering the whole of the design except for the top right corner which is left blank.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Brief description
Design probably for embroidery, from 'before I came to London' series, by Anna Maria Garthwaite, Yorkshire, Britain, 1727
Physical description
Design probably for embroidery, in pale and dark red, blue and green, depicting stylised floral and foliate motifs covering the whole of the design except for the top right corner which is left blank.
Dimensions
  • Height: 81.6cm
  • Width: 25.4cm
Dimensions taken from Rothstein, Natalie. Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century in the Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London with a Complete Catalogue with 473 Illustrations, 371 in Colour. London: Thames and Hudson, 1990.
Production typeDesign
Marks and inscriptions
  • 47 (Handwritten on the back)
  • Drawn in Yorkshire (On a small label pasted onto the design missing 1988. The inscription on the label is apparently in the same hand as the other inscriptions in this series.)
Object history
The title 'before I came to London' is written on the original cover for the series numbered 5970 as noted by Natalie Rothstein in her published catalogue Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century. In it she states that it is not entirely clear how the title should be interpreted 'there is no doubt that all the drawings in this series are by Garthwaite and that most of them represent her early efforts, 'before I came to London.' It is certain, however, that not all these drawings are from the year 1726 since there are others in the Series bearing the dates '1727'. '1728', '1729'...Since there are three drawings in this Series dated 1729 it might be surmised that Garthwaite arrived in London in or after that year. However, it is also possible that she came up the year before; on a tracing now numbered 5976.5A is the inscription 'For Mr Le Pine June 1 1728', and the number '1'. Could this be her first commission after her arrival in London? We know that there were several weavers in Spitalfields by the name of Lepine or De Le Pine at about this time. Of course this may be a tracing of a drawing sent up to Lepine from Yorkshire but if that were the case, might she not have written, as she did on 5970.28 (a drawing from about 1727 or 1728 but not later), 'This was sent to London with the rul'd paper before I came up'? Whatever the truth of the matter, we know that she was first working in Yorkshire.'
Production
Natalie Rothstein in her published catalogue Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century notes that the designs in the series numbered 5970 are simpler in nature than those of approximately the same date that are attributed to Christopher Baudouin. She states 'many of the designs in this Series seem to have been influenced by contemporary English embroidery and many of them are not particularly suitable for weaving. This either means that she [Garthwaite] had yet to learn some of the rules of silk-designing or that these designs are, in fact, for embroidery.'
Bibliographic reference
Rothstein, Natalie. Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century in the Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London with a Complete Catalogue with 473 Illustrations, 371 in Colour. London: Thames and Hudson, 1990. 351p., ill. ISBN 0500235899. p. 118, pl. 66
Other number
47 - Creator's reference no.
Collection
Accession number
5970:46

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Record createdJuly 1, 2009
Record URL
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