Sun curtain
Category
Textiles
Date
Unknown
Materials
Wool
Measurements
1010 mm (Width); 2000 mm (Length)
Order this imageCollection
Ham House, Surrey
NT 1139466.1
Summary
Bed curtain of unlined coarsely woven plain red wool. The face has been watered with a worm design. Along the lower edge and two side edges it has been bound with a green woven braid, there is a vertical hand sewn seam at 2/3 of the width. Along the inside of the top edge it has a heading tape 20 mm wide with 9 brass rings. These have been sewn on sideways, indicating that the rod was not meant to be seen when put through the rings.
Full description
Bed curtain of unlined coarsely woven plain red wool, which has a feint stripe within the weave of 2/8ths inch wide. The face has been watered with a worm design. Along the lower edge and two side edges it has been bound with a green woven braid, there is a vertical hand sewn seam at 2/3 of the width. Along the inside of the top edge it has a heading tape 20 mm wide with 9 brass rings. These have been sewn on sideways, indicating that the rod was not meant to be seen when put through the rings. One of four curtains from a bed which was displayed in the Duchess's Bedchamber at Ham House from c1950 - 1960 (it was replaced by another bed from the V&A collection), and from c1978 until 1982 when it was replaced by a reproduction bed based on 17th century inventories description.
Provenance
Up to December 2014, given as indigenous to Ham House and acquired with the gift in 1948, however, it is more likely that they entered the collection along with a bed in the collection of the V&A. In progress.