Antique Chinese carpet returns to Eltham Palace after 80 years

An antique Chinese carpet has returned to its original home at Eltham Palace after 80 years and will go on show to visitors from Saturday.

The carpet was donated to English Heritage by the estate of Mrs MR Bernard, the niece of Stephen Courtauld, who lived with his wife Virginia in the art deco mansion next to the palace’s mediaeval Great Hall.

After the Courtaulds moved out in 1944 they passed the lease to the Army Educational Corps, after which the original items from the house were dispersed. 

English Heritage took over the mansion in 1995, and it has attempted to display its interior in a way that is authentic to the Courtaulds’  eight years in Eltham. Other items to have recent gone on display include a gold telephone and a pair of Cartier brooches.

The carpet, dyed in the blue of the Qing dynasty, will be displayed in Virginia Courtauld’s boudoir after undergoing extensive restoration work to show off its symbols such as dragons, Buddhist emblems and masks.

English Heritage says the carpet “represents the taste for Chinese decorative arts during the 1920s and 30s, particularly among upper-class collectors”.

Sabrina Villiani, its curator of collections and interiors, said: “This is a truly spectacular item to have return to the palace. Its sheer size and bold colours will have an immediate impact on Virginia Courtauld’s iconic boudoir. The carpet also helps paint a clearer picture of the interior design of the Palace, and how it was influenced by the rapidly changing modern world in which the Courtaulds lived.”

The boudoir has been closed since April 30 so the carpet can be installed, and reopens on Saturday at 10am.

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