Celebrating 100 years with the Royal Collection Trust:
2024 marks 100 years since the nation gifted Queen Mary, Consort to King George V, an exquisitely crafted Dolls’ House. Designed to showcase the very best of British craftmanship, the Dolls’ House was shown at the Empire Exhibition in 1924 and is currently on display at Windsor Castle.
A Royal Commission:
Gainsborough was founded in 1903 hand weaving damask, hand-cut silk velvet and brocade and soon became widely respected within the industry. An association with the Royal Family was formalised with a visit on 23rd November 1906 by The Princess of Wales, who requested a large quantity of pure silk damask to be made up into a Durbar Dress for the state visit to India.
Queen Mary’s Dolls’ house presented an unmissable opportunity to contribute to a project of historical and national significance. 1,500 artisans and manufacturers were commissioned with the creation of the Dolls’ House and Gainsborough was honoured to be a part of this miniature mastery. The result is a product of the finest workmanship the UK had to offer in the early 20th century.
Top left: The original draft designed for the hand-cut silk velvet woven rug for the Library. A set of cards was hand-punched from this draft and ‘fed’ through the Jacquard harness to create the final woven.
Top right: A small sample of the hand-cut silk woven rug, the final piece resides in the Library of Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House.
The Library in Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House, featuring the hand-cut silk velvet rug woven by Gainsborough. The final resting place for the exquisite design pictured above.
Queen Mary’s Dolls’ house, the Saloon, featuring Gainsborough’s miniature version of Bologna as gold silk walling. This usually large-scale design was specially reengineered to 1:12th its original size for this unique commission.
Queen Mary’s Dolls’ house, the Queens’ Bedroom, featuring Gainsborough’s miniature version of the usually rather large Bologna design in stunning silver as fabric walling.
Awarded the Royal Warrant in 1981, Gainsborough continues its work for the Royal Household – a privilege and an honour.
The centenary of Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House is being celebrated by the Royal Collection Trust – to find out more, please visit: www.rct.uk
The Dolls House is on display at Windsor Castle and we highly recommend a visit!