May Morris visited Egypt in the winter of 1896-97. This cloak was made on her return and demonstrates her close study of North African motifs which she combined with more characteristic scrolling leaves. The shape is an approximation of ‘Arabic’ dress. In the late nineteenth century ‘burnouses’ and North African-style cloaks were fashionable accessories for followers of the Aesthetic style, widely available from shops such as Liberty. A photograph of May wearing a similar cloak in 1897 is also in the Gallery’s collection (P645).
The cloak is constructed from two loom widths of dark blue wool. Bands of silk embroidery (satin stitch, single chain stitch and long and short stitch) extend along the shoulder seams and cuffs, with a central motif on the back. May’s designs for the cloak are in the Ashmolean’s collection and show how May changed her mind when stitching the motifs and her white guidelines are also visible in some places where she decided not to stitch. The finished cloak was exhibited at Willow Brook Company, New York in 1910 and the Arts & Crafts exhibition in 1916 (no. 459). It was purchased by May’s friend Mary Sloane from the Kelmscott Manor sale after her death in 1939, Lot 139, for £2.
© William Morris Gallery, London Borough of Waltham Forest
© William Morris Gallery, London Borough of Waltham Forest
© William Morris Gallery, London Borough of Waltham Forest
