Physical Qualities
Cotton, 142 3/4 x 68 3/8 in. (362.6 x 173.7 cm.)
Credit Line
The Jane and Worth B. Daniels, Jr. Fund
Object Number
2004.95
Two joined lengths of medium weight ,balanced, plain-woven cotton block-printed with the design "Cray," consisting of meandering vines of lush peony blossoms and buds, with delicate scrolling leaves. The white cotton is printed in shades of pink, yellow, blue, green, brown and black with a cranberry-red ground. "Cray" is a complex design, which required thirty-four separate blocks to complete one printed repeat. The vertical repeat is 36-1/4 and the horizontal 17-11/16 in. The panels each include approximately four vertical and two horizontal pattern repeats.
The two lengths are full widths joined just past the unprinted selvage with machine stitching in purple thread. The printed patterns are matched. The right and left edges are now unprinted selvages; however, a crease and change in color as well as loose bits of threads along the fold line indicate that the right edge had been folded over approximately 4-7/8" and attached to another piece of fabric or another surface. The left edge was also joined to another panel as indicated by a fold or crease along the unprinted selvage with small holes and pieces of thread remaining. The top edge of one of the joined panels is pieced with two 2-1/2" to 2-3/4" strips of the same "Cray" print, one 15-1/2" long and another 18-1/4" long. Both are pieced in by handstitches using purple thread. The top edge of the joined panels is folded over 1/2" to 1" but not hemmed. Small pieces of brown thread and groups of wrinkles spaced along the folded edge indicate that it was probably gathered at intervals and sewn to a ring or other hanging device.
Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2004; Cora Ginsburg LLC, New York, NY by purchase, 2004; Christies South Kensington Auction.
Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art & Design, 1848-1900, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Feb. 17 - May 19, 2013.
Anita Jones, "Great Lengths," Jean and Allan Berman Textile Gallery, The Baltimore Museum of Art, October 27,2010 - April 17, 2011.
Anita Jones, "Great Lengths," Jean and Allan Berman Textile Gallery, The Baltimore Museum of Art, October 27,2010 - April 17, 2011.
Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design, 1848-1900. Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art (Brochure), p.2.
"In A New Light." BMA Campaign brochure, inside cover.
Inscribed: Printed on the selvage in dark brown: "Morris & Company 449 Oxford Street London W"
Manufacturer
Morris & Company
1874–1939
1875-1940; working at Merton Abbey, 1881-1940
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