Large Knotted Coverlet
c 1817

This bedcover is very large, in a lovely off white, creamy shade, and has a beautiful design. It's good that this is the original colour and has not been whitened, probably never washed. Beds were much higher in the early 19th century and the bedcover would have extended to the floor.  The embroidery is also super. It has been impossible to photograph because of the size and being white on white.  So rare to find one so early and in good condition. I think dahlias are depicted*

Knotting was a genteel pastime for leisured ladies requiring little concentration, so conversation could be carried out.  Favoured at Court and practised in England in the late 17th in William and Mary's reign and Queen Anne's reign in the early 18th century.  A knotting shuttle, larger than a tatting shuttle, made knots at every quarter inch or 6 mm intervals in string, linen, silk or wool. Mrs Delaney enjoyed knotting and preferred linen thread which was stronger. The thread between the knots was then couched down onto bedhangings, coverlets, chair covers or smaller items. The size of the knots was dependent on the thickness of the thread.  References below for aristocratic women who chose to have their portraits painted whilst knotting.

This fashionable occupation was often mocked by men. Sir Charles Sedley a wit and liberrtine wrote a verse mocking Queen Mary, the dull Protestant, wife of William III.

Blest we, who from such queens are freed/ Who, buy vain superstition led,/Are always telling beads;/But here's a queen now, thanks to God/Who, when she rides in Coach abroad/Is always knotting threads.

In the Spectator of 1712 it was suggested that men might take up knotting. Dr Johnson attempted to learn the skill but told Boswell I once tried knotting: Dempster's sister undertook to teach me, but I could not learn it.

A label was attached to the bedcover.  Royal School of Needlework. Exhibition Road, SW. Quilt 23AG. Then hand written in ink about 125 years old. Interestingly William Burrell, (who gave his collection to Glasgow City now the museum The Burrell Collection) on 31 December 1925  bought a similar knotted bedcover with a basket of flowers for £25.

Description

Embroidered  in blue cotton to the reverse of one corner AG to RMG, 1817. The centre with a basket of flowers including a tulip, dahlias and other species, surrounded by large vine and leaf meanders, all worked in couched white cotton cording with some embrodered French knots, on a linen ground, the fringing cotton.

10ft x 8ft 7 in; 3.05 x 2.60 m + fringing 2 in; 5 cm.

 

Condition

The centre basket of flowers has a couple of small tears, which hardly show because of the cotton lining.They could have some support from behind.

Comments

*Dahlias were discovered in Mexico in the 16th century. In 1798 The Marchioness of Bute obtained seeds and sent them to Kew Gardens.

collections.glasgowmuseums.com/mwebcgi/mweb?request=record;id=36177;type=101

The History of Needlework Tools and Accessories Sylvia Groves. Chapter 10.

Fringe, Frog & Tassel . The Art of Trimmunbgs-Maker in Interior Decoration. Annabel Westman.p 137.

Mrs Delaney the indefatigable needlewoman, made a coverlet in 1765. George III gave her a gold shuttle, illustrated in Ruth Hayden's book Mrs Delaney, her life and her flowers. His queen, Charlotte was another devotee of the craft.

There are several portraits of women knotting: Francis Wheatley Mrs Pearce 1786( Wolverhampton Art Gallery, West Midlands). With her knotting shuttle and bag into which the knotted thread is placed. Notice the bag which is probably made from pieces of woven dress silk brocade; Mrs Bridget Forrester Foot (1718-1816) by John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) (The Wadsworth Atheneium, Hartford, Connecticu; There are also portrait of Madame Adelaide of France 1756 by Jean-Marc Nattier (1685-1766), (Palace of Versailles) and  Anne Jarry, Madam Dange by Louis Tacque´(Musee du Louvre).

I gather there is also a conversation piece at Lotherton Hall, near Leeds of a lady knotting while her husband regards her affectionately.** Margaret Swain. Embroidery, Summer 1982.