Utrecht Velvet

Description

This fabric fragment is a copy of 18th-century patterns that were made in the city of Utrecht, The Netherlands. Velvet-like textiles were very much in keeping with 19th-century taste for reviving historical styles and, like other Morris & Co. designs, they had a long life span. In the late 1880s this pattern was chosen for upholstery in the Glessner House. In 1912 it was used as a wall covering in a first-class bedroom called the “Dutch Suite” on the ill-fated Titanic ocean liner.

Provenance

Haslam & Whiteway, London, by 2007; sold to Crab Tree Farm Foundation, Lake Bluff, IL, 6 Sept. 2007 [Crab Tree Farm Foundation catalog record, copy in curatorial files]; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2018.

Utrecht Velvet

Morris & Co.

Design c. 1871

Accession Number

249108

Medium

Embossed mohair plush

Dimensions

71.8 × 61 cm (28 1/4 × 24 in.)

Classification

weaving - velvet

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Crab Tree Farm Foundation