‘Mille Fleurs’ means a thousand flowers, and this design has a provenance that matters to me personally. It is a faithful reproduction of a rare Elizabethan wall painting surviving in Oxford: an imitation embroidery, originally created to mimic the expensive silk hangings woven with gold thread that only the wealthiest households could afford. The pattern features a multi-vine of swirling circles, pink flowers with yellow centres, and a painted pelmet frieze complete with gold bullion fringing and teardrop pendants.
I was part of the team commissioned to recreate this very motif on painted cloths for the Birth Room at Shakespeare's Birthplace Museum. Shakespeare himself almost certainly saw and was inspired by this exact design. That is the lineage this screen sits within.
The piece was originally commissioned and exhibited at Fortnum & Mason, Piccadilly, as part of the Crafting Excellence exhibition with QEST. It has lived in my studio since 2012. As a former exhibition piece it carries a gentle, authentic wear that I consider part of its character rather than a flaw.
Three substantial fresco secco panels, each built on a solid wooden batten frame with plywood backing, joined by six hand-forged steel H-hinges finished in an aged pewter patina. The hinges are barrel-rolled, rugged, and industrial in feel: a deliberate counterpoint to the delicate gold-thread detail of the painting. The surface carries my signature distressed and heavily cracked finish, sealed with hand-buffed wax. The reverse is lined in natural jute hessian.
This is a significant, architectural piece. It transforms the space it occupies. Signed by me.
Dimensions (approx): Height 180cm, width 180cm (60cm per panel).
Delivery & Collection This is a one-of-a-kind painted original, you will need to arrange delivery for this item and pay for this separately. You are very welcome to collect this from me from my Hastings studio. Otherwise, you will need to arrange for your own courier to collect. In either case, please contact me to arrange. info@melissawhite.co.uk and 01424 868048.
‘Mille Fleurs’ means a thousand flowers, and this design has a provenance that matters to me personally. It is a faithful reproduction of a rare Elizabethan wall painting surviving in Oxford: an imitation embroidery, originally created to mimic the expensive silk hangings woven with gold thread that only the wealthiest households could afford. The pattern features a multi-vine of swirling circles, pink flowers with yellow centres, and a painted pelmet frieze complete with gold bullion fringing and teardrop pendants.
I was part of the team commissioned to recreate this very motif on painted cloths for the Birth Room at Shakespeare's Birthplace Museum. Shakespeare himself almost certainly saw and was inspired by this exact design. That is the lineage this screen sits within.
The piece was originally commissioned and exhibited at Fortnum & Mason, Piccadilly, as part of the Crafting Excellence exhibition with QEST. It has lived in my studio since 2012. As a former exhibition piece it carries a gentle, authentic wear that I consider part of its character rather than a flaw.
Three substantial fresco secco panels, each built on a solid wooden batten frame with plywood backing, joined by six hand-forged steel H-hinges finished in an aged pewter patina. The hinges are barrel-rolled, rugged, and industrial in feel: a deliberate counterpoint to the delicate gold-thread detail of the painting. The surface carries my signature distressed and heavily cracked finish, sealed with hand-buffed wax. The reverse is lined in natural jute hessian.
This is a significant, architectural piece. It transforms the space it occupies. Signed by me.
Dimensions (approx): Height 180cm, width 180cm (60cm per panel).
Delivery & Collection This is a one-of-a-kind painted original, you will need to arrange delivery for this item and pay for this separately. You are very welcome to collect this from me from my Hastings studio. Otherwise, you will need to arrange for your own courier to collect. In either case, please contact me to arrange. info@melissawhite.co.uk and 01424 868048.
