Raven and Flower velveteen

Details

Date: mid-1880s
Dimensions: 94 x 81.3
Object Type: textile
Material: velveteen
Catalogue number: F63
Designer: Mackmurdo | Arthur Heygate | 1851 | 1942
Retailer: Century Guild
Manufacturer: Simpson & Godlee
Credit notes: Mackmurdo bequest, 1942

Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo’s design features a central pomegranate bush with pairs of ravens in deep blue eating the fruit, and flowing horizontal bands of large flower heads with leaves. This version appears to be from the beginning of a ‘bolt’ of cloth and shows poor registration in the colour printing, here somewhat further emphasised by the softer outline necessarily obtained in printing on velvet fabrics.