Fresh Stock – Clews, Paisley, and some Staffordshire Figures.

There’s some fascinating items in today’s varied ‘Fresh Stock’.
Let’s start with some porcelain: a part of an English service came in recently, instantly recognisable as a small factory only recently identified: Clews. This was exciting as it contains a documentary piece – the oval serving dish has a pattern number. Why is this exciting? none of the other pieces do, and it now allows us to identify this particular pattern as ‘Clews 169’.

Did you know…. if you hold your mouse over the word ‘Clews’ , it will pop-up a definition – click on it & it will take you to an in-depth page dedicated to Clews!

A fabulous piece is a very rare textile – rare because it is in almost pristine condition. It’s a Paisley Cashmere Wool shawl, dating to the mid-19th century when the Cashmere industry in the UK was at its peak. This example is superb, both in the fineness of the weave, the sophistication of the design – which is double-sided, not single as some are – and more rare, the brilliant unfaded condition.

How can we date it? When it came in from a local charity shop (on whose behalf we are selling it), it had a note, written with a fountain pen, stuck on with a 19th century pin, which read: “Came to Australia in 1861”.

It seems someone came to Australia with it in their luggage- and when they arrived, perhaps it was too precious to wear, so it’s been sitting in a drawer ever since!

It was intended to be worn – the photo below is a beautiful Pre-Raphaelite painting, by William Holman Hunt, depicting his wife, Fanny – tragically she died before he finished the painting in 1868.
Having handled the same quality Paisley shawl as she is wearing, Hunt must have spent an age fussing with the super-fine detail of the repetitive pattern of the shawl in his painting: truly a toil of love….

STAFFORDSHIRE

There’s a group of interesting Staffordshire Figures, including some charismatic dogs.