Screen cover
Category
Textiles
Date
Unknown
Materials
Cotton
Measurements
1740 x 2200 mm
Collection
Dunham Massey, Cheshire
NT 938666.2.2.1
Summary
Middle layer of fabric covering four-leaf screen stamped 'P&S', for 'Penelope & Stamford, the 9th Earl and Countess of Stamford, who had much of their belongings stamped for their move from Weybridge in Surrey to Dunham Massey in 1906. Red glazed cotton covering both sides of the screen, with stylised rose, rose hip and leaf pattern on meandering stems/branches; pale coral/pink pattern on a deeper, almost brick, red ground; tacked in place around the edges with the webbing 'hinges' roughly tacked over the top; handstitched seams where pieces have been stitched together but the hems have not been stitched but have been turned over and tacked in place. This fabric was evidently used when the brass hinges were still present as the fabric was cut around the hinges. Of the four leaves, the left two leaves when facing side (b) have had the fabric attached upside down and it is less faded than the right two leaves on the same side. The screen was covered in two halves; only the hinges joining the two halves (i,e. in the centre) were left visible; the frame was left visble. At a later date a length (complete width) of the same fabric was attached sideways around the right two leaves when facing side (b) (i.e. the pattern going sideways). This length is not as faded as the fabric it covers and it was tacked crudely in place. It covers the bottom half of two leaves on side (b), and the bottom half of one leaf in side (a). The 'envelope' of fabric visible in the digital image was held in place by a single tack at the top, now missing. It was possibly at the same time as this additional fabric that the webbing 'hinges' were added.
Provenance
Stamford collection; devised to the National Trust by Roger Grey, 10th Earl of Stamford (1896-1976).