Friday 6 January 2012

A Clearer Peasant Sleep!

Some of my Peasant Arts pictures on this blog are not of great quality, some of this I can blame on the age of the documents, but not all...!  The quality of the pictures is largely a result of using online copies of books and journals rather than the original paper versions.  So it is nice to come across some clearer copies of pictures that I've previously seen.
Oak bedstead designed by Ethel Blount, head, foot and quilt peasant tapestry
designed by Godfrey Blount from
The Artist, November 1897

This much clearer picture of the oak bedstead designed by Ethel Blount and head, foot and quilt of peasant tapestry designed by Godfrey Blount, quite literally sheds new light.  The detail of the tree and bird design on the head and footer tapestries and the edging of the quilt is drastically clearer, and looks a lot more attractive too.
Ethel Blount bedstead & Godfrey Blount peasant tapestries,
a worse picture, used in 18 June 2011 post
The Artist, November 1897
The Artist ('Two Surrey Village Industries', November 1897) stated "among the most beautiful of the Haslemere productions is a bedstead, with head and foot curtains of Peasant Tapestry and a quilt border with the same.  The body of the latter is of green linen, while the ground of all the applique-work is plain crash; the design is in delightfully harmonious greens and blues, with flowers of a soft but brilliant red.  The bed-stead, of green stained oak, is of Mrs. Blount's design, as is also the oaken wall-bracket, from which hangs a green linen curtain with a design in pale purple.  The colour is everywhere perfect except in one particular, and that is where purple and red are occasionally used in proximity".  Reading this description makes one further regret that the picture is only in black and white.

3 comments:

  1. I bet it was stunning, and I like the idea of the green-stained oak to pull it all together. Pray tell, the "background of the applique is plain crash" . . . and "crash" is??? Is it linen?

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  2. That IS a better picture! We will have to imagine the colour.....

    BB - I have just looked up "crash" in the Concise OED:

    " Coarse plain linen, cotton etc., fabric for towels etc.(from the Russian krashenina - coloured linen)."

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  3. Thanks for clearing up the 'plain crash'!

    Joseph's King's second wife's goddaughter(!) tells me that Helena King's favourite colour was green, and that her lounge had plenty of green Peasant Arts decoration.

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