Posted 19 days ago
vintagelamp
(1190 items)
From the seller:
A late Victorian Arts & Crafts embroidered textile panel, worked in colored silks upon a pale blue-green silk ground with linen borders, with the inscription “Stoneleigh House” beneath a stylized flowering rose entwined within scrolling stems.
The panel is richly embroidered throughout with wonderfully informal sprays of flowers, leaves, buds & small naturalistic motifs, the whole having precisely the intimate, hand-worked character associated with the domestic Arts & Crafts movement of the late 19th century.
Of particular importance are the two small, embroidered cartouches flanking the inscription, apparently reading “CDC” & “EHC”.
These correspond extremely convincingly with Sir Charles Daniel Cave, 1st Baronet (1832–1922) & his wife Edith Harriet Cave, née Symonds, later Lady Cave.
The identification is strengthened considerably by documentary evidence. When Charles Daniel Cave was created a baronet in 1896 he was officially described as being of, amongst other residences, Stoneleigh House, Clifton, Bristol.
Even more interestingly, Edith Cave was herself an accomplished & documented Arts & Crafts embroiderer.
At the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society exhibition of 1890, a Mrs. Cave of Sidbury Manor, Sidmouth, another Cave family residence, exhibited an embroidered book cover designed by May Morris (daughter of William Morris) & executed by Mrs. Cave.
Following Charles Cave's creation as a baronet, Lady Cave exhibited at the Society's Sixth Exhibition in 1899. Amongst her recorded works was a book cover designed by May Morris & executed by Lady Cave herself. Most tantalizingly, the same exhibition catalogue also records West Gallery No.14 simply as “NEEDLEWORK PANEL. By LADY CAVE.”
The present Stoneleigh House panel is of an appropriate period & is directly associated through its inscription & initials with the Cave family residence. It is therefore intriguing to consider whether it might possibly be the “Needlework Panel” exhibited by Lady Cave in 1899.
Lady Cave continued to exhibit embroidery with the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society in 1903, including an embroidered burse & an embroidered mirror border, the latter designed by Walter Cave & Miss Morris.
Across the lower linen panel is the embroidered Italian house motto:
“Casa mea Casa mea Piccola che sia
Sei sempre Casa mea.”
Essentially expressing the sentiment “My house, my house, however small it may be, you are always my house.”
From the internet:
Lady Cave's son, Walter Frederick Cave was also associated with the Arts & Craft movement:
Walter Frederick Cave (17 September 1863 – 7 January 1939) was an English architect, active in the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, who worked firstly in the Arts and Crafts style, and latterly in the Classical Revival. In addition to architecture, Cave worked as a landscape gardener, interior designer, furniture maker and cricketer.
Walter Frederick Cave’s wife was Jessica Maria (née Cochrane) Cave was from Canada and she also executed some artwork designed by May Morris.
Through my own research of the Arts & Craft Studio Exhibition pamphlets, I have determined that Frederick's wife is referred to as "Mrs. Cave" and his mother, Lady Edith Cave, was referred to as "Lady Cave."
As a side note, I was drawn to this sampler because I recognized the surname from my family tree. Unfortunately, it is a very-distantly related and not a direct line.









Exquisite embroidery, the floral design is so delicate & lovely
Newfld,
Thank you!
Very interesting write-up from the contacts. Love this piece as it corresponds to the trailing leaves in coins of the period also. Beautiful !~
PhilDMorris,
Thank you! Never would have made that "coin" connection, but you are absolutely correct! Appreciate the comment:)
Hi vintagelamp
Great detective work, I love to see original frame, wonderful art & crafted piece.
Alan
Alan,
Thank you! You have posted some wonderful things!