A Dun Emer Arts & Crafts carpet
Made at Glenbeigh, County Kerry, Ireland, c1905.
14ft x 10ft : 440cm x 305cm
Lily and Elizabeth Yeates, sisters of the poet W.B.Yeats, together with Evelyn Gleeson, started the Dun Emer Guild in 1902 at Dundrum, near Dublin. A variety of crafts were made including carpets under the supervision of Evelyn Gleeson who sent her assistant, May Kerley, to County Kerry where she established the Glenbeigh Carpet and Rug Industry in 1904.
The carpets produced were limited in numbers and few have survived as opposed to the Donegal carpets of which more were made. The designs were mainly of Celtic inspiration, to reflect a traditional Irish character as other nouveau designs were considered foreign. In America, they were marketed by McCreeny & Co., of New York.
The present carpet with a Celtic inspired design and typical Arts & Crafts colouring, has a most unusual border design. The speckled background field and the border of flowing pattern, reminiscent of a river, create movement,
The guild produced an array of objects ranging from book bindings to tapestries. At its height, it employed around thirty local women producing works for both private commissions, large exhibitions and fairs. In 1904, the guild exhibited at the Irish Village in the St. Louis World’s Fair in Missouri, USA. The Yeats sisters later split from Gleeson and in 1908 began Cuala Industries, leaving Gleeson to retain the Dun Emer name.
Price : £ 40,000
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