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The House of Life

Silversmith: Talbot, John Maitland · 1861-1909Designer: Traquair, Ramsay · 1874-1952Artist: Moss or Traquair, Phoebe Anna, HRSA · 1852-1936

The House of Life

Cumming (1993) states “this triptych is the only known example of Traquair’s use of silver as a ground for display (as opposed to dress)…

Cumming (1993) states “this triptych is the only known example of Traquair’s use of silver as a ground for display (as opposed to dress) enamel.” The same source states that the panel images were subsequently reworked as designs for embroidery and one of these, after the central panel (V&A, London), was included in the 1993 exhibition (cat.79) is illus (b&w) p.76.

The imagery of the central panel replicates in enamel Traquair's original watercolour illustration to her book 'The House of Life' in the National Library of Scotland, a reproduction of which was shown by Professor Yuki Takahashi in her paper "W.B.Yeats adn Phoebe Anna Traquair their fascination with 'Love's Hour' in literature and art" presented tot he W.B.Yeats conferecne at the Sorbonne in Paris 12-14 December 2019, a copy of which can be found in the artist's file for Phoebe Anna Traquair on the I: drive.

The design of the silver casing was done by Ramsay Traquair.

The making of the silver casing was done by John Maitland Talbot whose maker's mark appears in the hallmarks on the verso face