A Textile Affair | Textiles As Art: Paul Reeves Collection | Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh, 23 February

February 22, 2017

On Thursday 23 February, Lyon and Turnbull in Edinburgh are offering an interesting and often amusing selection of ‘Textiles as Art’ from the Paul Reeves Collection. Estimates range from the low hundreds of pounds to more than £20,000. Reeves, who began collecting British furniture and artefacts over forty years ago, He opened his first shop in 1976 dealing in items from the 19th and 20th centuries. His business is now based in Cirencester in the Cotswolds.

LOT 42. SIR ROBERT LORIMER (1864-1929) IMPORTANT CREWELWORK HANGING PANEL FOR EARLSHALL, FIFE, DATED 1893. 177 x 154cm. Estimate: £18,000 – 22,000

Reeves writes in the Lyon & Turnbull catalogue: “I love textiles, their feel and colour, their mood-enhancing and aesthetic properties. The importance of textiles to human beings is nearly as old as Homo sapiens itself. Once the art of weaving had been discovered, it was only a matter of time before the introduction of art into weaving. Before long, embellishments such as embroidery, painting and printing became a natural extension to the basic technique of making cloth. Like all art and craft, there are examples which are deemed high or low, exclusive or populist. I believe examples from all these mediums, with thoughtful selection, can be reappraised and have a place for us to enjoy as art in our homes today.

“The auction Textiles as Art, hosted with Lyon & Turnbull, consists of examples all selected by myself and includes pieces from the 1840s to the beginning of the 21st century. I have chosen works of popular art such as Berlin work, Folk Art, and machine-woven, embroidered and printed textiles, but also handmade ones such as loomed and printed textiles by William Morris and embroideries designed by Robert Lorimer, May Morris and the artists of the Glasgow School. Many of my choices are, inevitably, from the field with which I am usually associated, The Art & Design Movements of the 19th & 20th centuries. Perhaps more of a surprise will be the modernist embroideries, the naive and folk art pieces, ranging from a First World War handkerchief to a 1960s collage of an imagined Victorian interior and an African print of telephones from the 1980s. I have also found the domestic embroideries of the 1930s, beach and village scenes and modernist floral designs irresistible and evocative of a lost and charming world. All of these types happily do and have coexisted in my own home alongside furniture by Godwin, Burges, Mackintosh, Voysey and others, collected primarily for my own enjoyment but (nearly!) always admired by friends and visitors. I hope that you too, will appreciate and enjoy this selection.”

LOT 25. WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896) FOR MORRIS & CO. PAIR OF SILK ‘DOVE AND ROSE’ PATTERN HANGING PANELS, CIRCA 1879. 175 x 84cm, Estimate: £2,000 – 3,000

LOT 177. STIG LINDBERG (1916-1982) FOR LJUNGBERG TEXTILE AB. ‘LUSTGARTEN’ PRINTED COTTON PANEL, CIRCA 1951, 129 x 120cm. Estimate: £300 – 500

LOT 48. WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896) FOR MORRIS & CO. RARE ‘GRANADA’ WOVEN SILK BROCADE PANEL, CIRCA 1884. 55 x 65cm. Estimate: £800 – 1,200

LOT 51. JOHN HENRY DEARLE (1859-1932) FOR MORRIS & CO. ‘PARROT TULIP’ SILKWORK PANEL, CIRCA 1890. 133 x 52cm. Estimate: £1,500 – 2,000

LOT 23. CHRISTOPHER DRESSER (1834-1904) FOR WILLIAM FRY OF DUBLIN. ‘HERA’ WOVEN SILK PANEL, CIRCA 1876. 58 x 57.5cm. Estimate: £300 – 500

LOT 101. WYNDHAM LEWIS (1882-1957) FOR THE REBEL ART CENTRE OR THE OMEGA WORKSHOPS. RARE HANDBLOCKED PRINT ON SILK CREPE, CIRCA 1914. 68 x 58cm. Estimate: £800 – 1,200

LOT 128. INDIAN MOGHUL SCHOOL ZARDOZI EMBROIDERED PANEL, 20TH CENTURY. 92 x 98cm. Estimate: £800 – 1,200

LOT 167. FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT (1867-1959) FOR F. SCHUMACHER & CO. RARE ‘TALIESIN LINE’ PRINTED LINEN PANEL, DESIGN 105, CIRCA 1955. 123.5 x 136.5cm. Estimate: £800 – 1,200