Honiton (East Devon) lace sprig

This East Devon bobbin lace sprig is a sample of lace made for the 1867 International exhibition. It is part of a collection of British and Continental lace put together by Charlotte Treadwin, an important lace manufacturer with a business based in the Cathedral Yard, Exeter. The collection was donated to the museum in the late 1860s for lace-makers and designers to study. Treadwin once stated that there was not a single lace-designer in the whole of Devon, and strove to improve this, employing an artist to draw out her designs, and studying samples to better inform her practice and experimentation with lace-making patterns and techniques. By 1868, the lace manufactory and showrooms were already based at 5 Cathedral Yard (now known as the Cathedral Close).

The business had already been granted the royal warrant from Queen Victoria in 1848, before Charlotte’s marriage to John Treadwin. This water lily is part of a group of motifs used in a shawl exhibited in 1867.

Object Summary

Accession Loan No.
29/2006/148
Category
Decorative Art
Collection Class
Textiles and equipment
Common Name
Honiton (East Devon) lace sprig
Simple Name
lace sprig
Period Classification
Victorian (1837-1901)
Production Town
Exeter
Production County
Devon
Production Country
United Kingdom: England
Production Date
1867
Production Person Initials
Charlotte
Production Person Surname
Treadwin (nee Dobbs)

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Honiton (East Devon) lace sprig with design of water lily leaves