Screen

Date1917

Mediumwool, wood, metal

DimensionsOverall (when open): 82 × 75 × 1 3/16 in. (208.3 × 190.5 × 3 cm) Other (each panel): 82 × 25 × 1 3/16 in. (208.3 × 63.5 × 3 cm)

Credit LineReynolda Estate

CopyrightPublic Domain

Object number1922.2.21

DescriptionThis three-panel folding screen is covered on one side with woven polychrome wool tapestry in the style of medieval tapestries. The frame of each panel rises gently in the center top and is straight at the bottom. The tapestry is attached at the edges of the frame with large domed nails closely spaced and driven through a polychrome wool tape woven in a geometric pattern. The motifs on each panel include clusters of flowers, leaves, and grasses arranged individually on a dull green background. An oak tree is shown on the center panel with a segmented shield hanging from a branch in the center of the tree. Below, near the bottom of the center panel, is the figure of a rabbit. Each of the side panels includes a bird on the wing near the top.

The use of the shield on the tree was meant to give the impression that this was an old family tapestry repurposed as a dining room screen, but the panels were woven to be used as a screen at the time it was made.
ProvenanceFrom 1964
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, acquired in 1964. [1]

Notes:
[1] In the early 1960s Charles H. Babcock (1899-1967) gave the house and its contents to the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. The house was then incorporated as a museum and collection (Reynolda House, Inc.) on December 18, 1964 with the signing of the charter at its first board meeting. The museum first opened to the public in September 1965.

Status

On view