Handbags of state

Portrait of John, Lord Hervey, holding his purse of office as Lord Privy Seal, by Jean-Baptiste van Loo, 1741 (inv. no. 13016). ©NTPL/Angelo Hornak

Those who follow Courtney Barnes’s blog Style Court will know of her strong interest in textiles, and it will come as no surprise that she wanted to know more about the splendidly embroidered purse of office held by John, Lord Hervey, in the portrait shown in the previous post and above.

Portrait of Sir Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley (1540-1617), as Lord Chancellor by Edward Wright (fl. 1730s – d. c.1773), 1615, at Dunham Massey (inv. no. 932327). © National Trust Collections

I am no textile historian, nor do I know much much about British court ceremonial (so anyone who does know about those subjects, please do comment), but I have found a few other depictions of such grand ‘handbags’.

They were originally made for ministers to carry important documents to and from the sovereign and to hold objects associated with offices of state such as the Great Seal. Over time they evolved into portable symbols of the prestige of high office.

Portrait of Sir Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry of Aylesborough (1578-1640), as Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, after Cornelius Janssen van Ceulen (1593-1661), 1650, after an original of 1625, at Erddig (inv. no. 1151371). © National Trust Collections

Even today (as Andrew reminded me in a comment on the previous post) the Lord Chancellor still carries a purse of office during the State Opening of Parliament, containing the Speech from the Throne which he presents to the Queen for her to read out – an elaborate display of deference that also hints at the fact that it is the Government which largely determines the contents of the Speech.

Portrait of Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke (1690-1764), as Lord Chancellor by the Reverend James Wills (fl. 1746– d. 1777), c. 1740, at Erddig, inv. no. 1151294. © National Trust Collections

Incidentally, the famous handbags of Mrs (now Lady) Thatcher seem to be a modern mirror image of the purse of state, working in similar but opposite ways. Starting out as unassuming, self-consciously traditional objects, they somehow took on a symbolic quality because of their association with the particular aura of a particular Prime Minister.

One curious detail about this small series of images of office holders with their purses is that Lord Hervey is the only one not wearing robes of state. I am not sure whether that is a sign of his self-confident personality or whether there were several possible degrees of formality in this type of potrait.

Tudor and Stuart fashion moments

Portrait of Elizabeth Knollys, Lady Leighton, attributed to George Gower, 1577, at Montacute House, Somerset (Sir Percy Malcolm Stewart bequest). ©NTPL/Derrick E. Witty

I vividly remember seeing this portrait years ago at an exhibition about Elizabeth I at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. It sang out with its self-confident fashion sense. 

It comes as no surprise that this woman, Elizabeth Knollys (pronounced to rhyme with bowls), Lady Leighton, is thought to have been in charge of the Queen’s wardrobe – in effect a kind of fashion adviser or dresser.

Portrait of Margaret Layton, attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts, c. 1620. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Her own appearance is very sophisticated, the orange dress echoing her reddish hair, but toned down by the black slashed bodice (if that this correct technical term), with the pattern of the slashes seeming to mimick the bow fastenings, and set off by various jewels which also return in her sassy tall hat with its elegant pink feather.

The portrait of Margaret Layton together with the linen jacket worn by the sitter, embroidered with coloured silks, silver and silver-gilt thread, made c. 1610-1615, altered c. 1620. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

A slightly later fashion moment, from the Jacobean period, has been preserved at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, where a c. 1620 portrait of Margaret Layton is shown next to the actual jacket she can be seen wearing in the picture.

Portrait of a lady, possibly Vere Egerton, Mrs William Booth (m. 1619), attributed to Robert Peake, at Dunham Massey, Cheshire. ©NTPL/Matthew Hollow

At Dunham Massey we hope to create something similar later this year: fashion student Jennifer Craig is working on a recreation of the costume of Vere Egerton, to be displayed near her recently acquired portrait. The current plan is to partly open up the costume, to show how it was constructed and what it would have been like to wear.

One of Jennifer Craig's sketches. ©Jennifer Craig

Jennifer is keeping a blog called Recreating the Costume of Vere Egerton to show the results of her research and the progress with the costume.

Cultural cross-dressing

Portrait of Sir Robert Shirley, by Sir Anthony van Dyck. ©NTPL/Derrick E. Witty

I recently spotted this extraordinary pair of portraits by Van Dyck at Petworth. They show Sir Robert Shirley (?1581-1628) and his wife Teresia, he in Persian costume, she in her native Circassian dress.

The portraits were probably painted in Rome in 1622, where Sir Robert was acting as ambassador for Shah Abbas the Great of Persia.

Portrait of Teresia, Lady Shirley, by Sir Anthony van Dyck. ©NTPL/Derrick E. Witty

Sir Robert had gone to Persia with his equally adventurous elder brother Anthony to promote trade between England and Persia and to solicit the support of the Shah against the Ottoman Empire.

He stayed there for a number of years, married Teresia, and was then sent back by Shah Abbas to tour a number of European courts in order to cement the alliance against the Ottomans.

These portraits are a wonderful evocation of Sir Robert’s pride in his acquired identity as a Persian grandee.

A triumph, darling

©NTPL/David Levenson

I recently posted about the news that Ellen Terry’s beetle wing dress was returning to Smallhythe Place. 

©NTPL/David Levenson

I now want to share these images, which have just become available, of the installation of the dress in its custom-made display space.

©NTPL/David Levenson

After the painstaking restoration work, the mounting of the dress on its mannequin was handled with equal care.

©NTPL/David Levenson

Some of the source material Terry used as inspiration for the dress is also still at Smallhythe.

©NTPL/David Levenson

Bouquets to all those involved: it’s a triumph.

Beetles, darling

©Zenzie Tinker

One of the most spectacular costumes worn by Ellen Terry, the queen of the Victorian and Edwardian stage, has gone back on display at Smallhythe Place, in Kent.

Hand-coloured photograph of Ellen Terry as Imogen in 'Cymbeline', 1896. ©NTPL/John Hammond

Ellen Terry was famous for her dramatic roles, and to enhance her interpretation of Lady Macbeth in the late 1880s she wore an extraordinary emerald and sea green gown adorned with the iridescent wings of the jewel beetle.

Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth, by John Singer Sargent, at Smallhythe Place. ©NTPL/Derrick E. Witty

It gave her a silkily armoured, serpent-like appearance. She was portrayed wearing it by John Singer Sargent (one version of which is at Smallhythe, another, more finished, is at Tate Britain).

Smallhythe Place. ©NTPL/John Miller

The dress had been preserved at Smallhythe Place, the Kent cottage where Terry ended her days, but over time it had become increasingly fragile. Textile conservator Zenzie Tinker and her team were commissioned to restore the costume.  

©Zenzie Tinker

About 1,000 beetle wings were re-attached to the costume, both original ones and replacements that had been donated. The entire conservation process took 1,300 hours of work.

©Zenzie Tinker

Now the beetle wing dress is back at Smallhythe, in a new contemporary display space, together with other items from Terry’s dressing room which have never been shown before.

“Fabulous, darling”, as Ellen Terry might have said.

Update: More images cane be seen here on the Daily Mail website.