Embroidered Evening Bag, by Jane Morris

Embroidered evening bag

Jane Morris

c.1878

Coloured silks on a metal mount

Width: 220 mm, Height: 245 mm, Depth: 45 mm

Victoria and Albert Museum

Bequeathed by May Morris

Acquisition no. T.70-1939

See commentary below

Image © Victoria and Albert Museum, London. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

This exquisite bag was on display in the "Pre-Raphaelite Sisters" exhibition held at the National Portrait Gallery, London, 17 October 2019 – 26 January 2020, where it was one of the items included in order to show the artistry of the women associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. According to the V and A's production note:

It is likely that the embroidery for the bag was designed as well as worked by Jane Morris. It is stylistically similar to floral embelishment painted on a four page booklet of four pages of verse including a poem "Oneglia" given as a keepsake by Jane Morris to Rosalind Howard in 1878. This survives at Castle Howard.

Moreover, according to the gallery label in the National Portrait Gallery's exhibition, the flowers are "recognisable as pink fritillary and white eyebright ... ones that grew around the Morris summer home in Oxfordshire."

Embroidery was one of the more conventional ways for women to express themselves in art, and it reached a very high standard of excellence at this time. Jane Morris was known for her great skill in needlework. [Mouse over the text for links] — Jacqueline Banerjee

Related Material

[A Review of] "Pre-Raphaelite Sisters" at the National Portrait Gallery, London, 17 October 2019 – 26 January 2020

Bibliography

"Bag." Victoria and Albert Museum. 27 October 2019.

Created 28 October 2019