Cushion embroidered by Marion Sambourne, c. 1911, with a fashionable turn-of-the-century peacock design, on display in Out Shopping: The dresses of Marion and Maud Sambourne (1880-1910) at Leighton House and Sambourne House, Kensington, London (23 March – 20 October 2024). [Photograph by the author. Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Note that there are similar peacock-pair motifs in the Art Nouveau tiling by W. J. Neatby in the Harrods Food Hall, which the Sambournes would have patronised. Although this piece was embroidered by Marion (wife of the cartoonist Linley Sambourne), her daughter Maud engaged more fully in this kind of handicraft, establishing a Needlework Guild after her marriage, first at Balcombe House in 1909, and later at nearby Nymans in Sussex, to encourage local girls. According to the display caption at the exhibition, she appointed Miss Warren, who had studied at the Royal School of Needlework, to teach them how to sew: "The items they produced included cushion covers, tea cosies and purses, which could then be sold to provide them with some additional income."
Link to Related Material
- [A Review of] Out Shopping: The dresses of Marion and Maud Sambourne (1880-1910) (with more examples of embroidery)
Created 12 April 2024