Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833 - 1898), woven at the Merton Abbey workshop of Morris & Co.

wool, mohair and silk, woven onto a cotton warp at a fineness of 16 threads to the inch, the composition and figures designed by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, with decorative details designed by William Morris and his assistant John Henry Dearle

William Knox d'Arcy, Stanmore Hall, Middlesex
Sold by his trustees, Sotheby's London, 16 July 1920, lot 130
Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster GCVO DSO, thence by descent
Sold by Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor and later 6th Duke of Westminster KG OBE TD DL, Sotheby's Belgravia, Decorative Arts 1870-1940, 19 April 1978, lot 93
Jimmy Page

This tapestry exhibited:
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, London, 1893
William Morris Centenary Exhibition, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1934
William Morris 1834-1896, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996, cat. no. M 130

J.S. Gibson, `Artistic Houses', The Studio, vol. 6 (September 1893), p. 222 for an illustration of the cartoon
The Stanmore Tapestry.  Some notes on the San Graal Arras, worked by William Morris, J.H. Dearle and others for Stanmore Hall, compiled by Archibald Bence Boyce-Jones for W.K. D'Arcy, 1893-5
`The Revival of Tapestry-Weaving, An Interview with Mr William Morris', The Studio, no. 16 (July 1894), p. 100
`The Arras Tapestries of the San Graal at Stanmore Hall', The Studio, vol. 15 (October 1898), pp. 98-104, the tapestry illustrated in situ, p. 100
Aymer Vallance, William Morris His Art His Writings and His Public Life, London, 1898, pp. 119-121
H.C. Marillier, History of the Merton Abbey Tapestry Works, London, 1927, pp. 18-20, illustrated pl. 12
Linda Parry, `The Tapestries of Edward Burne-Jones', Apollo, November 1975, pp. 327 ff
Linda Parry, `The Stanmore Hall Tapestries', Sotheby's Art at Auction, 1978-9, p. 418 et seq.
Linda Parry, William Morris Textiles, London, 1983, pp. 114, 116-7, 119

The following condition report has been prepared by a tapesty conservation specialist. "Overall in an excellent condition. Both wool and silk weft are in a sound and stable condition; additionally the warp is in good condition. All slits and seam are sound and strong. The colours are excellent, with little fading. However, a narrow horizontal section of the inner field and border, approximately 3 - 3.5 cms, along the lower edge and a vertical strip on the extreme left hand edge have stronger, unfaded colours, probably due to having been protected from light by a previous frame or moulding present when displayed. There are areas of previous damage, possibly caused by insect activity (no live insects were found). These areas have been repaired using accepted museum quality conservation techniques, consisting of open 'couching' to infill and emulate missing areas of original weft. The repairs are clearly identified on close inspection but blend in well from a viewing distance. The repairs, found mostly in the red wool of the three standing angels' wings and in some small areas of blue wool weft, are neat, sound and visually acceptable. There are also some areas of re-woven, restored wool weft in the blue ground in the upper left ground. These repairs are also strong and sound and can only be identified by the thickness of the stitching and slight difference in colour. On close inspection, there are numerous small white 'specks' throughout the tapestry structure but mostly found in the upper left quarter (front viewing). These are possibly the result of insect damage as described. The 'specks' are where the wool weft is missing and the white cotton warp can be seen. They are extremely small areas of damage and, at the time of writing this report, are not detrimental to the structure. There is a small stain, possibly a water stain, in the lower right hand corner; a small blue stain and a brown stain can be seen on the table cloth in the right hand section. There is some general soiling near the edges of the missing area in the lower right corner. Apart from the isolated stains described above the tapestry is in a clean condition with a low level of ingrained soiling (surface pH 5.0). The lining and 'Velcro' are both clean and in good condition. The lining has a tendency to rollout towards the front of the tapestry at the sides. A line of stitching could be applied to secure the lining and hold it in place. This work should be carried out by skilled textile conservators experienced in handling large tapestry objects. A medium weight linen fabric has been applied to the back as a lining. A strip of Velcro contact fastener has been applied to the top edge at the back to facilitate hanging."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

The Holy Grail tapestries are William Morris' ultimate achievement as a designer and manufacturer, and `The Attainment' is one of the most iconic images of nineteenth century British art. Morris and British Arts and Crafts have been internationally recognised as exerting a vitally important influence on the arts of Europe, North America and Japan, and this tapestry is now widely regarded as one of the high points of the movement.

This lot, the culminating panel from a series of six narrative tapestries depicting the Arthurian legend of the search for the Holy Grail, was felt by Morris to be `our largest and most important work'. The story was selected by Morris and Edward Coley Burne-Jones as the subject for tapestries to hang in the dining room of Stanmore Hall, Middlesex, a commission from William Knox D'Arcy, a wealthy Australian mining engineer. An undated manuscript written by Morris, probably from the time of the commission in the spring of 1891, notes `I have had a careful discussion with Mr Burne-Jones on the tapestries for the dining-room at Stanmore and after considering the spaces to be filled, the light in the room and other circumstances, we have come to the following conclusion. The subject chosen for the illustration is the Quest of the Sancgreal which forms the latter part of the world-wide romance of the Morte d'Arthur... The long space above the sideboard would be filled with the grand design of the Series, the attainment of Sir Galahad of the Sancgreal; he will be landing from his ship at the final resting place of the Sancgreal `Sarras the Spiritual City'. Then will come the Sancgreal borne amidst a company of angels, and lastly, occupying the space over the door, the City of Sarras designed with all the necessary splendour. Here again there will be many figures, the space itself lending itself to a great display of the richness of tapestry design...'.

This panel was therefore designed and woven especially to fit around the architrave of the Stanmore Hall dining room doorway. All the tapestries were intended to be seen above eye level, and the other panels surmounted five-foot high verdures inscribed with details of the scenes. No explanatory verdure was deemed necessary to heighten the drama of the final `Attainment' scene, however, and the effect of the cutaway over the door provides an emotionally charged visual device, elevating the Grail and altar above the rest of the tapestry, as can be clearly seen in a series of photographs of the group in situ in `The Arras Tapestries of the San Graal at Stanmore Hall', The Studio, vol. 15 (October 1898), pp. 98-104.

Morris always believed tapestry weaving to be the greatest of all the decorative arts, `so deep, rich and varied, as to be unattainable by anything else other than the hand of a good painter in a finished picture' (`Some Hints on Pattern Designing', a lecture to the Working Men's College, London, 10 December 1881). He first saw and admired tapestries as a young man, vowing to master the technique and produce his own panels as soon as he was able to provide the ideal conditions for manufacture.

To this end Morris set up a tapestry loom at Queens Square, in the workshops behind Morris & Co., and then in 1881 moved production to Merton Abbey. In the early years he took on an apprentice, John Henry Dearle, who in time became the master weaver and foreman and, eventually, the firm's chief designer and artistic director. Dearle was also responsible for training all new weavers. Of the twenty-nine tapestry weavers who worked for Morris & Co. during the firm's existence, six are known to have worked on the Holy Grail series of tapestries for Stanmore Hall. These were William Harold Knight, William Sleath, John Martin, Robert Ellis, John Keech and Walter Taylor. As `The Attainment' was the first panel of the series woven, Knight and Sleath, the first two apprentices indentured by the firm, are likely to have been involved alongside Taylor, who joined the company in 1890 at the age of fourteen, having been recruited, like other workers, from the East London Technical School. Dearle in particular is likely to have been involved in weaving the finer details of the tapestry, such as the facial features and the hands and feet, with the younger men producing areas of solid colour, pattern and floral details. The panel took them two years to complete; it was finished in time to be shown at the Third Arts and Crafts Exhibition before finally being hung at Stanmore Hall.

Occupying three weavers at a loom at any one time, the technique employed by Morris was high warp (or haute lisse) tapestry, as was used in the preparation of the finest mediæval Flemish panels. Initially Burne-Jones made a small monochrome design showing the intended composition with figures. This was then photographed and an enlarged print, the size of the intended finished tapestry, was worked on by Morris and Dearle, who made separate scaled designs of the decoration of the knights' clothing, the floral foreground and the background of the scene. The photographic enlargement and the separate decorative designs were then handed to the weavers as the cartoons for the finished work and remained behind the looms as a guide during weaving. The photographic cartoon for this tapestry is in the collection of the William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow.

Morris was justifiably proud not only of his revival of the British tapestry industry but also of the quality of the weaving and the beauty of his designs. Additionally, he was quick to acknowledge the importance of Burne-Jones' input, particularly in the Holy Grail series. These compositions, now considered to be the artist's most successful figural grouping, were well known and widely admired from the time of completion. Of the four weavings of 'The Attainment', the Stanmore version was the first, finest and closest to Burne-Jones' original cartoons. The softness and subtly of the facial features show a high level of weaving skill, with none of the original drawing lost. As the first of all the Holy Grail tapestries to have been made at Merton Abbey, this panel must have been closely guided and supervised by Morris and Dearle: not only was it a highly lucrative and important commission, it also represented the ultimate challenge for Burne-Jones, Morris and their team of craftsmen. So crucial was this project at the time that a typescript record was produced for D'Arcy by A.B. Bence-Jones, which included interviews with Morris and Burne-Jones concerning the development of the group and their literary and artistic sources. This is now in the National Art Library.

The six narrative scenes comprising the Stanmore series are titled as follows:

Panel 1: `The Knights of the Round Table Summoned to the Quest by the Strange Damsel'

Panel 2: `The Arming and Departure of the Knights of the Round Table on the Quest for the Holy Grail'

Panel 3: `The Failure of Sir Gawain'

Panel 4: `The Failure of Sir Lancelot to Enter the Chapel of the Holy Grail'

Panel 5: `The Ship'

Panel 6: `The Attainment: The Vision of the Holy Grail to Sir Galahad, Sir Bors and Sir Perceval'

The tapestries ordered for Stanmore Hall presented Morris with his dream commission, and he kept a close eye on their progress. Three later versions of 'The Attainment' were woven, but Morris was pre-occupied with ill health during the execution of the first (1895-96, now in the collection of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery), and the two others were woven posthumously. Of these the earlier, woven 1898-99, is now in a private collection, having been divided and cut into four sections, while the last was not made until very much later, in 1929-32. Further details of these other weavings are available upon request.

Following D'Arcy's death, his trustees sold the Stanmore group as `A Superb Set of Twelve Tapestries', Sotheby's London, 16 July 1920, lot 130, purchased by the 2<sup>nd</sup> Duke of Westminster for Eaton Hall, Cheshire. Three panels, the second, third and sixth, were subsequently offered for sale, Sotheby's Belgravia, Decorative Arts 1870-1940, 19 April 1978, as lots 91-93. Of these, 'The Arming' is still in private hands, 'The Failure of Sir Gawain' was sold Christie's London, Important British and Irish Art, 9 June 2004, lot 40, and `The Attainment' is now being offered for the first time since 1978.

We are most grateful to Linda Parry for her invaluable assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.