Sailor's Woolworks, Rare Square Pair on Velvet With Union Jack, Stars and Stripes and Royal Navy Ensigns

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Description

Sailor's Woolworks, Rare Square Pair on Velvet with Union Jack, Stars and Stripes and Royal Navy Ensigns
Circa 1880

This … Read more Sailor's Woolworks, Rare Square Pair on Velvet with Union Jack, Stars and Stripes and Royal Navy Ensigns
Circa 1880

This rare pair of late 19th-century sailor's woolworks, or "woolies," is unusual on two counts: each is worked in a square format, and each is stitched directly onto a rich brown velvet ground rather than the duck, a type of linen, that sailors normally used and covered edge to edge with wool.

Each picture centers on a shield-shaped panel edged in green, within which a three-masted ship under full sail rides a textured sea worked in long stitch. The oval reserve is bound with twisted cord and hung with a wool tassel above and below. Two large flags sweep down on either side of the shield, their edges bound with the same twisted cord and finished with tassels at the hoist, and above each shield sits a pair of crossed guns, the arm badge of the Royal Navy gunnery ratings, worked in a finer, lustrous thread and outlined in wool.

The first woolwork is flanked by the Union Jack on the left and the American Stars and Stripes on the right, with its crossed guns in dark brown outlined in white. The second is flanked by two Royal Navy ensigns, the White Ensign on the left and a Blue Ensign on the right, the latter given a red cross across its field in the manner of its white companion, a liberty of the sailor's own; its crossed guns are blue-gray outlined in red. Both are presented in matching stained wood frames with gilt slips.

Square, graphic and richly colored, the pair reads as a single composition when hung side by side and suits a paneled study, a hallway or a wall of maritime and folk art, where the velvet grounds give them a warmth that canvas woolworks do not have.

Dimensions (each, framed):
Height: 18 3/4 inches (47.6 cm)
Width: 18 3/4 inches (47.6 cm)
Depth: 1 1/4 inches (3.2 cm)

Provenance
Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge

Condition
Good.

Historical Context
Sailors' woolworks were made by British naval and merchant seamen through the second half of the 19th century, at sea, ashore and in retirement, using Berlin wool on a canvas ground that was normally covered entirely with stitching. The velvet ground here is a departure from that practice: the maker let the velvet stand as sky and background and confined his wool to the flags, shield and ship, giving the pair a finished, parlor quality. The American flag paired with the Union Jack is a sought-after feature of the genre and usually points to service on the transatlantic routes, or to a wish to celebrate the two seafaring nations together.

The crossed guns above each shield are the badge of the Royal Navy gunnery branch and almost certainly identify the maker. Concerned at a shortage of trained seamen gunners, the Admiralty, by an Order in Council of 23 January 1860 and Circular No. 407 of 9 February 1860, established the grades of gunnery instructor and trained man and introduced distinguishing arm badges for the gunnery ratings, trained at H.M.S. Excellent, the gunnery school at Portsmouth.

A seaman gunner wore a single gun, and the senior grades, gunner's mates and later gunlayers, wore two guns crossed, with stars or a crown added for the higher classes. A sailor who worked this badge into both of his pictures was in all likelihood a gunnery rating himself, proud of a hard-won qualification, and the White and Blue Ensigns of the one picture sit naturally with that. The Union Jack and Stars and Stripes of its companion suggest he also served on, or wished to commemorate, the transatlantic routes. See less