Flea Market Item 26-314

Vintage Embroidered Hydrangea Linen Panel — c.1920s–1940s

A wonderful large piece of vintage linen embroidery featuring three exuberant hydrangea flower heads surrounded by leaves and trailing stems. 

The design measures 48 x 35cm and has been worked on a natural oatmeal-coloured linen, with large areas carefully cut away to create the dramatic open background.

The embroidery is particularly lovely. The outlines of the leaves, stems and individual hydrangea florets are worked in a thick, softly lustrous twisted thread, probably rayon or mercerised cotton, in a muted taupe/grey-green shade. Small raised knots form the centres of the flowers, while the leaf veins are delicately stitched. The open spaces are connected with narrow embroidered bars, giving the piece the appearance of lace while retaining substantial areas of linen.

This was most likely originally part of a table centre, tray cloth, runner or decorative household linen, rather than a piece of lace made independently. The raw and somewhat irregular outer edges suggest it may have been removed from a larger textile. There are remnants of red stitching around the perimeter, which may relate to its original construction or later removal.

The stylised naturalistic hydrangeas combined with the bold openwork are characteristic of decorative linens produced between the wars and into the early 1940s.