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Carving

Carving

  • Place of origin:

    London (made)

  • Date:

    ca. 1690 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Gibbons, Grinling, born 1648 - died 1721 (maker)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Limewood, with raised and openwork carving

  • Credit Line:

    Given by The Hon. Mrs Walter Levy

  • Museum number:

    W.181:1-1928

  • Gallery location:

    In Storage

Object Type
This wooden cravat is carved in imitation of Venetian needlepoint lace and is life size. It was made to demonstrate the carver's skill. Similar cravats appear in architectural decorative schemes associated with Gibbons. This piece was probably made to show and impress potential patrons.

People
The cravat belonged to Horace Walpole (1717-1797) who thought highly of Gibbons' work as a woodcarver. His family home, Houghton, Norfolk, included a room decorated with Gibbons' carving. Walpole thought that one of the ivory reliefs on his cabinet (W.52:1-1925) - that representing Judith with the head of Holofernes - was also carved by Gibbons although this attribution is not accepted today.

Place
Gibbons' cravat was displayed in the Tribune Room at Strawberry Hill with the Walpole Cabinet. It formed part of Horace Walpole's collection of special small objects. In 1769 Walpole wore the cravat to receive some distinguished French, Spanish and Portuguese visitors at his Twickenham home, Strawberry Hill.

Physical description

Cravat carved from limewood with raised and openwork carving, 24.1 x 20.9 x 5.1 cm. Carved in imitation of Venetian needle lace fashionable in the late seventeenth century and similar to those used in other schemes of carved decoration associated with Gibbons.

The lace represented would be a piece measuring 32 x 16.5 cm if it were laid flat.

Place of Origin

London (made)

Date

ca. 1690 (made)

Artist/maker

Gibbons, Grinling, born 1648 - died 1721 (maker)

Materials and Techniques

Limewood, with raised and openwork carving

Dimensions

Height: 24.1 cm, Width: 20.9 cm, Depth: 5.1 cm

Object history note

Made in London by Grinling Gibbons (born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1648, died in London, 1721)

In the Description of Strawberry Hill, 1774, the cravat was in the Tribune and was identified as by Gibbons. In the 1784 edition it is described as 'a present from Mr. Grosvenor Bedford', who had given the cravat to Walpole by 1769.

Sold in the Strawberry Hill sale, 1842, day 15, lot 99, when it was bought by Miss Burdett Coutts for 9 guineas. Sold from the collection of the late Baroness Burdett-Coutts on 11 May 1922 by Christies (lot 345a). Bought by Read for £26.5. Given to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1928 by the Hon. Mrs Walter Levy.

Shown at Strawberry Hill for the exhibition 'Lost Treasures of Strawberry Hill: Masterpieces from Horace Walpole's Collection', 20 October 2018 - 24 February 2019. See below for reference to catalogue.

Descriptive line

Cravat, made of limewood with raised and openwork carving, by Grinling Gibbons, ca. 1690

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Baker, Malcolm, and Brenda Richardson (eds.), A Grand Design: The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London: V&A Publications, 1999.
Snodin, Michael, ed., with the assistance of Cynthia Roman. Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill. New Haven and London: The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University, Yale Center for British Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum, in association with Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12574-0. Catalogue of the exhibition held at the The Yale Center for British Art, 2009 and the Victoria and Albert Museum, 2010, cat.167, fig. 116, pp. 316
Snodin, Michael, ed., with the assistance of Cynthia Roman. Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill. New Have and London: The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University, Yale Center for British Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum, in association with Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12574-0. Catalogue of the exhibition held at the The Yale Center for British Art, 2009 and the Victoria and Albert Museum, 2010, cat. 167, p.86.
This object features in 'Out on Display: A selection of LGBTQ-related objects on display in the V&A', a booklet created by the V&A's LGBTQ Working Group. First developed and distributed to coincide with the 2014 Pride in London Parade, the guide was then expanded for the Queer and Now Friday Late that took place in February 2015.
Victoria & Albert Museum: Fifty Masterpieces of Woodwork (London, 1955), no. 30.

Davoli, Sylvia, Lost Treasures of Strawberry Hill. Masterpieces from Horace Walpole's Collection. London: Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd., 2018. ISBN: 978-1-785541-180-6, p.85.

Labels and date

Such cravats, carved in imitation of Venetian needle-point lace, appear in several architectural schemes of carved decoration associated with Gibbons, notably at Petworth and Hackwood, but the virtuosity of this example makes it a unique survival. It belonged to Horace Walpole and was normally kept in the Tribune Room at Strawberry Hill. On 11 May 1769, he received some distinguished foreign visitors wearing the cravat and a pair of gloves which had belonged to James I: 'the French servants stared and firmly believed that this was the dress of an English country gentleman'. [pre May 2001]
British Galleries:
Walpole greatly admired the skilled carving of this cravat as a fine example of the work of the 17th century wood carver Grinling Gibbons. However, he was not above using it for a joke. In 1769 he described how he had received some distinguished foreign guests while wearing it: 'The French servants stared and firmly believed that this was the dress of an English country gentleman.' [27/03/2003]

Subjects depicted

Cravat; Lace

Categories

Fashion; Clothing; Woodwork; British Galleries

Collection

Furniture and Woodwork Collection

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