May Morris

circa 1890

Embroidered Panel
c.1885 stamped MORRIS & CO. to reverse of frame
19 3/8in. (49.2cm.) high
Christie's

Firescreen
mahogany, silk
32 5/8in. (82.8cm.) high
Christie's

"By producing small embroideries, for firescreens and cushions, many more people were able to acquire designs. Many of these designs were sold in kit form, becoming the financial mainstay of the business. The designs were available in three different stages of completion; as background fabric marked with the design to be embroidered entirely at home, with the embroidery already started as a guide or, all the work could be done in the Morris & Co workshops.

William Morris in 1885 handed over the management of the Embroidery Section to his daughter May, aged 23. She had already designed embroideries and was a skilled embroideress. All designs for embroidery were either designed by her or John Henry Dearle, Morris's assistant, who on Morris's death became Art Director." - Meg Andrews

http://www.meg-andrews.com/item-details/Morris-embroidery/6529
http://www.meg-andrews.com/item-details/May-Morris/6685

Photograph by Frederick Hollyer
circa 1890

http://thetextileblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/may-morris-and-embroidered-tapestry.html

A threefold screen
Designed by J.H. Dearle and May Morris, circa 1885,
retailed by Morris & Co.
Mahogany frame with ebony banding,
glazed panels with satin stitch embroidery,
central drop leaf shelf
69in. (177.3cm.) high; 20in. (51.3cm.) width of side panels;
23in. (58.7cm.) width of central panel
Stamped twice Morris & Co 449 Oxford St West, numbered 1586
Christie's

Kelmscott Manor - For the Bed at Kelmscott

"In William Morris's room at Kelmscott Manor, the early-seventeenth century carved oak bed has an embroidered valance and bed-hangings that were designed in 1891 by May Morris, his daughter, and worked by May with the help of Lily Yeats and Ellen Wright (two Morris & Co. embroiderers). The poem "For the Bed at Kelmscott" was written by William Morris for the project. [It is is embroidered on the vallance.] May Morris also designed the bedcover, which was embroidered by Jane Morris ..." -Link-

THE wind's on the wold
And the night is a-cold,
And Thames runs chill
'Twixt mead and hill.
But kind and dear
Is the old house here
And my heart is warm
'Midst winter's harm.
Rest then and rest,
And think of the best
'Twixt summer and spring,
When all birds sing
In the town of the tree,
And ye in me
And scarce dare move,
Lest earth and its love
Should fade away
Ere the full of the day.
I am old and have seen
Many things that have been;
Both grief and peace
And wane and increase
No tale I tell
Of ill or well,
But this I say:
Night treadeth on day,
And for worst and best
Right good is rest.

Kelmscott Manor
painting by May Morris

More about Kelmscott Manor from Margaret:
http://www.theearthlyparadise.com/2008/02/william-morris-and-kelmscott-manor.html

http://www.kelmscottmanor.org.uk/
http://www.morrissociety.org/poems.htm#lines

First image courtesy ... William Morris Fan Club