During the second half of the Victorian era, the British soldier, when being conveyed to foreign shores, met with sailors and saw how they made their woolwork pictures. The same need to maintain uniforms meant that these soldiers were also skilled with needle and thread and so it was that they picked up on the idea of making woolwork pictures, initially copying the maritime output of the sailors but soon after developing their own styles with regimental honours, flags of allegiance, cannon and stacks of balls and, peculiar to the soldier, vases of flowers, often surrounded by draped curtains. Their pictures would sometimes incorporate a banner with the legend ‘Leisure Hours in India’
Offered here is a woolwork picture by a soldier of the 9th Regiment of Foot, perhaps commemorating the passing of this regiment in 1881 as it became the Royal Norfolk Regiment by merging with local Militia and Rifle Volunteers.
British circa 1881, within a maple veneered frame of the period, perhaps original to the needlework.
27.5 in x 24.5 in
Item Code: 3972
£ 685
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