Five Christmas table mats
Object No. 2005/72/1
These five table mats are part of a large collection of embroidered Christmas table linen and hand towels which belonged to the Hollinsworth family and was used by them every Christmas between the 1940s and 1980s. Marjorie Hollinsworth bought the set from an antique dealer in Sydney, who told her they had belonged to an old Russian woman whose family had fled to China after the Bolshevik revolution and would have bought them for their own use during the Christmas season. The mats were made in China in the early 1900s, and were embroidered by Chinese women, probably in a workshop environment. It seems most likely that these entrepreneurial embroideresses produced such linen for sale to the foreign community. The designs are reminiscent of English Christmas card scenes, which were probably used as templates. The donor recounts a visit she and her sister made to China in 1986, when they watched needle women stitching designs copied from pattern sheets placed above their work. Each piece has been hand embroidered with a Christmas motif or motifs, using a wide variety of designs worked in silk on commercial linen. The stitches are mainly satin stitch with the addition of running and chain stitch, while the scalloped edges are machine embroidered.
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Summary
Object Statement
Christmas table mats (5), hand and machine-embroidered, linen / silk, made in China, early 1900s, used by the Hollinsworth family, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1940s-1980s
Physical Description
Christmas table mats (5), hand and machine-embroidered, linen /silk, made in China, early 1900s, used by the Hollinsworth family, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1940s-1980s Five rectangular table mats hand-embroidered with the following Christmas motifs in the corners: Father Christmas and gifts, lanterns and holly sprigs, poinsettia holly and a bell, candles, and holly. Each mat has scalloped edges machine-bound in red silk thread. They are part of a larger collection of Christmas table mats and napkins.
PRODUCTION
Notes
These five mats, like the other pieces in the collection, were embroidered by Chinese women, probably in a workshop environment, in China in the early 1900s for sale to the foreign community. Each piece has been stitched using silk thread on commercial linen. A wide variety of designs have been hand embroidered using satin-stitch with the addition of running and chain-stitch; the scalloped edging has been done by machine. Templates (probably Christmas cards) have been used for the designs. The donor recounted a visit she and her sister made to China in 1986, when they watched needle women stitching designs copied from pattern sheets placed above their work.
HISTORY
Notes
These five mats are part of a large set of Christmas linen which was purchased by the donor's sister, Marjorie May Hollinsworth (1915-99) from an antique dealer in Manly, Sydney, in the early 1940s. The dealer was selling the collection on behalf of an old Russian lady who had lived in China - it was originally the property of an Russian family, perhaps her family, who had fled to China after the Bolshevik revolution. The Christmas linen was subsequently used every year by the Hollinsworth family between the 1940s and 1980s.
SOURCE
Credit Line
Gift of Betty Hollinsworth on behalf of her sister Marjorie May Hollinsworth, 2005
Acquisition Date
23 February 2005
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