The following photos taken this morning feature an old Chinese piano cloth I think with the most beautiful embroidery on it. I thought either it had got lost in storage or that I had left it behind in the drawer of the bookcase when I left the village. Then I opened a painted cupboard in the attic room and there it was just peeping out of a stack of stuff. Guilt disappeared instantly!
To describe it. It is a Chinese dragon surrounded by the most exquisite embroidering of flowers and butterflies. The colours from the embroidery threads has disappeared and now it is just grey thread on the cream silk background with a deep green silk back lining.
It is very crumpled as you can see, maybe a light ironing or even steaming might help. It should be hung on a wall. Which of my grandchildren will it go to? Will they admire the workmanship I wonder?
It is a family treasure, and I have just been sorting through my emails, because a few years back I was contacted by a Dutch person, who said that my daughter's grandmother Lotta was the daughter of a partner in the 19th century in the shipping business with presumably his great grandfather.
Johan Rijnberk, Lotta's father was born in 1853 and was Dutch ambassador to China from 1896 to 1905 and this is where the furniture in the bungalow at Blonay in Switzerland came from, much of it was Chinese with elegant black silk armchairs and a Chinese altar cabinet full of jade and ivory Knick knacks.
Lotta gave me this, would you call it a tablecloth I wonder, years ago, and all I can do is pass it on.
Funnily enough when I 'googled' the name I had two answers from Bing, the dates were vaguely similarly but not exact, do computers go wrong?
This last photo is of a painting again inherited by my daughter from her grandmother of The Hague, it is not a very good painting but I wonder if any member of my family sent it on to him.
1) I assume you are asking about Johan Willem van Rijnberk, who was a Dutch diplomat and served as the Dutch ambassador to China from 1896 to 1905. He was born on May 22, 1853 in Utrecht, Netherlands and died on December 30, 1930 in The Hague, Netherlands.
During his tenure as the Dutch ambassador to China, he played a significant role in the Boxer Rebellion. He was also a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science.
Bing answers above
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2) I am already curious about the paintings you mention, regarding the house Lotta lived in during her childhood in The Hague. May be it is the same, as the house I recently visited in The Hague in the Statenkwartier district (the houses in that neighbourhood date from the early 19th century), where the van Rijnberk family may have lived, following their departure from the Far East.
A correspondent's answer.
That embroidery must have taken ages to do! I am just doing a small cross stitch in a 10 inch hoop and it is taken me quite awhile!
ReplyDeleteSomeone definitely ruined their eyes doing it. So neat and tidy Ellen.
DeleteThe depth of the figures in the work is achieved wit long and short straight stitches. This is a difficult stitch to render as beautifully as done here. The stitch has a name I cannot recall at the moment. I doubt this was a table cloth. Probably a covering for a grand piano.
ReplyDeleteYes it must have been for a piano Joanne, trouble is we don't have a grand piano. The grey on silk is rather beautiful I don't know what the original colours of the silk thread would have been.
ReplyDeleteThat is a gorgeous thing. Do you think that it would make a wall hanging, or is it simply too large? It just seems a shame that such a beautiful thing would be packed away. The workmanship deserves to be admired.
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