• Full view of an English Georgian silk coverlet, c. 1780–1810, with cut lampas silk appliqués and later embroidery.
  • Section of the 18th-century silk coverlet, showing lampas silk appliqués on an ivory-cream satin ground.
  • Section of the silk coverlet showing polychrome embroidery among the appliquéd motifs.
  • Section of the silk coverlet showing polychrome embroidery among the appliquéd motifs.
  • Central appliqué motif on the coverlet, cut from lampas silk and mounted on the satin ground.
  • Border embroidery detail on the English silk coverlet.
  • Appliqué motif cut from patterned lampas silk and mounted on the coverlet’s satin ground.
  • Detail of a lampas silk appliqué motif with embroidery on the Georgian coverlet.
  • Close view of a cut lampas silk appliqué motif on the English coverlet
  • Close view of a cut lampas silk appliqué motif on the English coverlet.
  • Corner of the silk coverlet, showing its edge and applied design.
  • Lower section of the coverlet showing appliqué motifs and embroidery.
  • Slip-style appliqué motif, cut from lampas silk and mounted on the coverlet.
  • Close detail of a second slip-style silk appliqué motif on the coverlet.
  • Top edge showing design tracings and exposed stitch lines where the embroidery has been unpicked.
  • Detail of the coverlet’s top edge, with an original embroidery design visible beneath unpicked stitching.
  • Top edge showing further drawn embroidery designs and stitch workings exposed by unpicking.
  • Close-up of 18th-century lampas silk, showing its woven pattern.
  • Close-up of lampas silk showing the woven motif and surface texture.
  • Detached appliqué fragments associated with the coverlet’s later restoration.
  • Close-up of wear on a detached lampas silk appliqué fragment.
  • Reverse of the appliqué fragments, showing the embroidery workings and exposed threads.
  • Coverlet folded to show its unbacked reverse and embroidery workings.
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Unbacked English Georgian Silk Appliqué Coverlet with Victorian Reworking, 177 × 204 cm

Unbacked English Georgian Silk Appliqué Coverlet with Victorian Reworking, 177 × 204 cm

English silk appliqué coverlet: Georgian lampas motifs, c. 1780–1810, later spliced and embroidered. Unbacked, 177 × 204 cm, with four detached fragments.

£950.00
£950.00
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Description and Details

This unusual English coverlet brings together Georgian luxury silk and a later, highly inventive reworking. Its ivory-cream satin silk ground and figured lampas motifs date to around 1780–1810. Ornate Chinoiserie and classical urns, flower baskets and sprays are cut from the lampas and mounted on the ground, then developed with polychrome silk embroidery. Birds, butterflies, a cat and a chicken animate the design.

The treatment goes well beyond placing separate motifs. Some of the silk slips have been cut and joined to make new compositions; elsewhere, outline embroidery enlarges and reshapes their forms. On one vase, embroidery worked over the woven silk adds shading, depth and a raised, almost sculptural quality. The maker explicitly referred to the 17th-century courtly tradition of embroidered slips, in which separate motifs were arranged within a larger design. This deliberate reference is carried through the coverlet’s use of lampas silk, compositional splicing, couching and surface embroidery, and shows the maker’s considerable needlework skill, ingenuity and design sense.

The coverlet is entirely unbacked and unlined, leaving the reverse workings, knots and stitch tension visible across its full 177 × 204 cm. In the upper area, motifs have been unpicked, exposing structural stitch lines, ghost impressions and hand-drawn design tracings beneath. Four large detached textile fragments accompany it. Their localised wear records domestic use and helps explain the later effort, probably around 1890–1910, to salvage and remount the Georgian silk motifs.

The main satin silk ground is generally stable, with historic creasing. The exposed reverse and unpicked areas make the construction and later intervention unusually clear. The fragments preserve further evidence of wear and reverse needlework; please examine the photographs for their condition.

English. Ground and original lampas silk motifs, circa 1780–1810; later compositional splicing and over-embroidery, probably circa 1890–1910. Measures 177 × 204 cm.

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