Not on display

The Five Senses

Cloth
ca. 1893-1900 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Cloth of linen damask. In the centre a blazing sun and four eyes enclosed in a lobed compartment surrounded by four female figures holding lamps. The figures are in flowing draperies, as are those in the corners, where a kneeling man blowing a huge curved horn is flanked in two corners by a woman with flowers and a youth with glass and bottle; in the other two corners by Cupid with a woman (Psyche? Venus?). Between the central and corner compartments are pairs of peacocks with trailing tails, flowers and fruit.

A wide border has a scrolling oak stem enclosing hounds (at the ends), boar, rabbits, pheasants and deer (at the sides). The pattern of the side borders joins in the middle at a stylised crossbow. The whole cloth depicts a sort of Art Nouveau Medievalism. The design repeats in reverse in top and bottom halves of the cloth.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe Five Senses (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Woven linen damask
Brief description
Cloth of linen damask, designed by Walter Crane, woven by John Wilson and Sons, British, ca. 1893-1900
Physical description
Cloth of linen damask. In the centre a blazing sun and four eyes enclosed in a lobed compartment surrounded by four female figures holding lamps. The figures are in flowing draperies, as are those in the corners, where a kneeling man blowing a huge curved horn is flanked in two corners by a woman with flowers and a youth with glass and bottle; in the other two corners by Cupid with a woman (Psyche? Venus?). Between the central and corner compartments are pairs of peacocks with trailing tails, flowers and fruit.

A wide border has a scrolling oak stem enclosing hounds (at the ends), boar, rabbits, pheasants and deer (at the sides). The pattern of the side borders joins in the middle at a stylised crossbow. The whole cloth depicts a sort of Art Nouveau Medievalism. The design repeats in reverse in top and bottom halves of the cloth.
Dimensions
  • Length: 90.5in
  • Width: 92.8in
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'See' (Inscribed label near women with lamps)
  • 'Hear' (Inscribed label near man blowing curved horn)
  • 'Smell' (Inscription near woman with flowers)
  • 'Taste' (Inscription near youth with glass and bottle and repeated in two corners)
  • 'Touch' (Inscription near Cupid with a woman)
  • 'Regd.' (Woven inscription at each end of cloth)
  • 'Legge / 1893 [or 1898]' (Written faintly in ink on one corner of cloth)
Credit line
Given by Miss P. M. Legge
Collection
Accession number
T.450-1976

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
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