Lewis Foreman Day
1890's

Ornamental Lily ten silk and linen damask dessert doilies woven with a delicate lily flower design, a peacock feather border, in soft salmon , ivory and clotted cream, 7 in 18 cm sq; inc fringe

Comments

These doilies were sold by retailers John Wilson & Sons, of Bond Street and later 188 Regent Street. Listed as 'household linen warehousemen' the firm specialised in the sale of linen damasks. From the 1890's to early 1900's they commissioned damask designs from leading designers of the day including Christopher Dresser, Crane, R Anning Bell and Day which were woven on handlooms.. John Wilson was highly regarded by Day as a market leader lifting a traditional and conservative industry into a new realm. Day's designs were usually inspired by nature. He had always been intrigued by the intricacies of damask design and felt the designer had to rise to the production challenges. There would have been 12 doilies originally. A dozen doilies would have cost 18s 6d. Hansen, Joan Marie Lewis Foreman Day 1845-1910. Unity in Design and Industry chapter 8 Textiles, p 250 for similar doiley. My thanks to Frances Pritchard, textile curator at Whitworth Museum, Manchester for bringing this book to my attention. Day Nature in Ornament 1892 pl 89 Lewis Foreman Day (1845-1910) was a founder member of the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society and one of the most commercially aware and successful designers of his generation. Born in in Peckham Rye, London of a Quaker family, educated in Brighton, France and Germany. Stained glass designer for Clayton & Bell. In 1870 he started his own business designing textiles, wallpapers, stained glass, embroidery, carpets, pottery, tiles and book-covers. He and a group of artists he gathered together formed the Art Workers' Guild in 1884 of which Day was later Master and the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society 1888. Day taught, lectured, examined and was the author of some widely influential books on pattern-making, design and ornament. He was a regular contributor to the Art Journal and the Magazine of Art. The V & A owns a large number of his textile designs. See "Textiles of the Arts & Crafts Movement" Linda Parry (V & A 1988) Anscombe, Isabelle & Gere, Charlotte Arts & Crafts in Britain and America

Condition

four coral mats are in vgc. Of the three ivory mats each has a slight mark. Of the cream mats one is in vgc and of the other two one has a slight mark and the other has several. One curious thing is that all the salmon mats are just about square, one of the ivory mats is square and two slightly rectangular. Of the cream mats two are square and one rectangular! Perhaps when they were washed they were not stretched out for drying.

Price: £250 | $400 | €300

Reduced to: £200 | $320 | €240

Ref N°: 6450