Embroidered wall hanging 'The Pigeon' worked in silks on a background of silk damask, designed by John Henry Dearle, ca. 1895, and embroidered by Mrs Battye, ca. 1898-1900, made by Morris & Co., England

Embroidered wall hanging worked in silks on a background of green woven silk damask. The hanging has wide borders (16 inches or 40.5 cm) to left and right.

The central motif shows an orange tree around which winds a red acanthus leaf on which perch two pigeons. Two smaller flowering trees are seen in the foreground, the various dispersed bunches of the growing flowers include tulips, bluebells and forget-me-nots. Subsidiary trailing plants include roses, a thistle and others with large-headed exotic blooms.

Worked mostly in darning stitch with stem stitch used as outlines on some blooms. Buttonhole filling, laid and couched work, satin stitches and French knots are also used. The birds are worked through an additional backing cotton.

There is a strip of tape with rings at the top of the hanging which was originally turned under. Originally nailed to a stretcher, the embroidery still shows nail-holes around the edge. Unlined.

The ground fabric is a William Morris pattern called 'The Oak'.

Given by Misses Audrey and Norah Battye

Designed by J.H. Dearle ca. 1895 as a kit for Morris & Co., and worked by Mrs Battye from 1898.

Bought from Morris & Co. as a kit, this panel was a very ambitious project. The finely worked result shows the high standard of amateur needlework among middle-class women at the time. Mrs Battye was a good client of Morris & Co.. A panel incorporating the arms of the Battye family, drawn in the Morris Workshops and worked by her, is now in the William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow.

T.369A-1982