Located in BUNGAY, SUFFOLK
Spetchley park, Bargello, silk, bed curtains adapted into wall hangings in the 19th century
• The use of silk, patterning and size suggests that these striking Bargello hangings were almost certainly conceived as bed curtains. In the Green Chamber at Parham House the State Bed is hung with Bargello curtains, pelmets and valences c1620. Like the Parham bed curtains, the Spetchley Park bed curtains have two horizontal pattern repeats in each drop. Needless to say, surviving bed curtains from this period are exceptionally rare as they had value as hangings and for upholstering domestic objects when removed from the bed.
• The Spetchley Park bed curtains are really beautiful and luxurious. They were made as elite objects and have not lost their gravitas or their character and charm.
• The Spetchley Park bed curtains were adapted into wall hangings in the 19th century. They are versatile and could easily be reinstated as curtains or panels within larger curtains.
• Bargello work has a classic timeless quality to it and blends with most decorative schemes whether period or contemporary
Each panel is made from two sections of bargello. The step (pattern) comprising two rows of short vertical stitches over two threads of graduating numbers of stitches up and down with two rows of long vertical stiches over six threads of graduating numbers of stitches up and down. Worked in graduating shades of blue, green, brown, red, tan and ivory silks on a hessian ground. The four edges of each hanging are faced with a 19th century, dusky pink fan...
Category
1620s Baroque Antique Italian Tapestries