Chair Seat Cover thumbnail 1
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Chair Seat Cover

1730s (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This cover is part of a group of embroideries and a related conversation piece painted by Joseph Highmore (E.285-2009) that have been accepted by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the V&A. The small group portrait includes Jane Vigor, who holds up an example of her embroidery. The group of twenty two embroidered sofa and chair covers were almost certainly worked by Jane Vigor, possibly with a circle of friends, having descended in the same family with the painting.

Jane Vigor (1699-1783) gained a particular reputation in the 18th century as a travel writer. She spent some years in St Petersburg as wife to two successive British Consuls, Thomas Ward and Claudius Rondeau, and married her third husband, William Vigor, after her return to England as a widow in 1740. Her published accounts of her time at the Russian Court make several references to her working at embroidery, as an English practice that caught the attention of the Russian Empress Anna, and undertaking projects of an extensive scale. This group of seat covers are embroidered on an unusual worsted ground and with further investigation it may be possible to establish that they were worked by Jane Vigor while still in St Petersburg, adapting Russian materials to her English design and needle skills.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Worsted embroidered in wool
Brief description
Chair seat cover, embroidered in coloured wools on worsted, 1730s, possibly made in Russia in English style
Physical description
Embroidered chair seat cover. Ground of plain woven z-spun worsted. Embroidered in coloured wools, with a design of a wide variety of flowers tied in a bouquet with a blue ribbon. Machine sewn to modern backing.
Dimensions
  • Height: 52cm
  • Width: 64cm
Credit line
Accepted by HM Government in lieu of Tax and allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum, 2009
Object history
This cover is part of a group of embroideries and a related conversation piece painted by Joseph Highmore (E.285-2009) that have been accepted by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the V&A. The small group portrait includes Jane Vigor, who holds up an example of her embroidery. The group of twenty two embroidered sofa and chair covers were almost certainly worked by Jane Vigor, possibly with a circle of friends, having descended in the same family with the painting.

Jane Vigor (1699-1783) gained a particular reputation in the 18th century as a travel writer. She spent some years in St Petersburg as wife to two successive British Consuls, Thomas Ward and Claudius Rondeau, and married her third husband, William Vigor, after her return to England as a widow in 1740. Her published accounts of her time at the Russian Court make several references to her working at embroidery, as an English practice that caught the attention of the Russian Empress Anna, and undertaking projects of an extensive scale. This group of seat covers are embroidered on an unusual worsted ground and with further investigation it may be possible to establish that they were worked by Jane Vigor while still in St Petersburg, adapting Russian materials to her English design and needle skills.

In the Highmore painting, Jane Vigor, who was described as "a fine woman; very tall, and perfectly genteel", sits at the left, holding an example of the embroidery of which she was justly proud. The piece shown in the painting appears similar to the surviving examples of her work, but Jane is not actually working it as she has no embroidery tools with her, and the embroidery would have been fixed to a frame during its making.
Production
The embroideries were probably worked by Jane, later Mrs William Vigor, during her time in St Petersburg as wife to two successive British Consuls, Thomas Ward and Claudius Rondeau; possibly with a circle of her friends.
Summary
This cover is part of a group of embroideries and a related conversation piece painted by Joseph Highmore (E.285-2009) that have been accepted by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the V&A. The small group portrait includes Jane Vigor, who holds up an example of her embroidery. The group of twenty two embroidered sofa and chair covers were almost certainly worked by Jane Vigor, possibly with a circle of friends, having descended in the same family with the painting.

Jane Vigor (1699-1783) gained a particular reputation in the 18th century as a travel writer. She spent some years in St Petersburg as wife to two successive British Consuls, Thomas Ward and Claudius Rondeau, and married her third husband, William Vigor, after her return to England as a widow in 1740. Her published accounts of her time at the Russian Court make several references to her working at embroidery, as an English practice that caught the attention of the Russian Empress Anna, and undertaking projects of an extensive scale. This group of seat covers are embroidered on an unusual worsted ground and with further investigation it may be possible to establish that they were worked by Jane Vigor while still in St Petersburg, adapting Russian materials to her English design and needle skills.
Collection
Accession number
T.327-2009

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Record createdMarch 5, 2010
Record URL
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