Sun curtain
Category
Textiles
Date
Unknown
Materials
Wool
Measurements
1010 mm (Width); 1980 mm (Length)
Order this imageCollection
Ham House, Surrey
NT 1139466.3
Summary
Bed curtain of unlined coarsely woven plain red wool. The face has been watered with a worm design. Along the lower edge and left hand side edge it has been bound with a green woven braid, although the green braid is now totally missing along the bottom. The right hand side edge is turned in on itself. There is a vertical hand sewn seam at 2/3 of the width. Along the inside of the top edge it has a natural coloured webbing heading tape 35 mm wide with 9 handmade flattened metal 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 inventory descriptions. The association of these four bed hangings and the V&A bed W.45.1911 had been lost until re-discovered by Sarah Medlam and Annabel Westman in December 2014, and confirmed in January 2015. At one point the hangings were thought by Anne van den Berg to relate to protective hangings in the Queen's Bedchamber and are described as such in Ham House p.
Provenance
Victoria and Albert Museum W.45.1911