Embroidery, 'The Pomegranate Tree'

Embroidery "Pomegranate Tree"

"Pomegranate Tree" was embroidered in 1907 by Lady Cory (nee Lethbridge, 1866-1947) who was born in Taunton, Somerset in 1866. This large embroidery originally hung outside Lady Cory's drawing room at 28 Belgrave Square, London

Lady Cory died in 1947 without issue, bequeathing most of her estate to major English museums including the Victoria Albert in London. The National Museum accepted this and eight other large scale embroideries when they were turned down by the Victoria and Albert. The works arrived in Wellington in 1948 and now form part of Te Papa's collection.

Design
Although she embroidered this picture, Lady Cory did not create the design. "Pomegranate Tree" was designed by Nellie Whichelo who was connected at the time with The Royal School of Art Needlework, London. Nellie Whichelo was a well known designer in her own right who exhibited alongside the likes of Walter Crane and Burne-Jones in the annual exhibitions held by the Arts Crafts Society. Nellie Whichelo won a prize of the 1900 Paris exhibition for this design.

The design for Pomegranate Tree, owes a great deal in its layout, the treatment of the tree form and its overall style to a 1904 design by Alexander Fisher called Rose Tree.

Materials and Technique
"Pomegranate Tree" is embroidered in woollen worsted and silk threads on a linen ground. Jane Cory would have probably used a large freestanding tapestry frame the width of the work which had a device for rolling the embroidery as it was worked.
An embroidery of this size would have taken several months to complete.

Significance
This and the other eight embroideries by Lady Jane Cory constitute a nationally significant body of work, the Arts Crafts style embroideries being particular important examples of this popular late 19th century English style.