The Exhibition

30 May

ARCHIVE

Hamo Thornycroft archive

Lavender sachet; fabric flower; piece of fabric, late 19th / early 20th century

h 8, w 6.6; h 7, w 4; h 7.4, w 8.1 cm (when folded) fabric and embroidery thread Bequeathed by Mrs Elfrida Manning, 1987

 It is debatable if the fabric flower, the piece of cloth and the lavender sachet have any artistic value as such. They were made as or turned into keep-sakes. It is not really something one would expect to find in an archive and yet they were specially selected to be kept. The three items represent the very personal, a little treasure kept as a reminder of an event or a person. Was the lavender sachet embroidered by a young member of the family and offered as a gift? Amazingly enough it has kept some of its smell after all those years. The fabric might be the fabric used for the wedding dress Hamo Thornycroft allegedly designed for his wife to be. Is it? Often we can only guess but sometimes there are letters and diary entries which fit together like a puzzle and together give the answer. Those little scraps sculptors sometimes did not even consciously decide to keep are often the real joys in archives, they can be the missing link.
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