When Penryn Museum reopens to the public on Monday, March 6, visitors will be able to see a new exhibition that puts a spotlight on the history of the Post Office.
Put together whilst the museum was closed for cleaning and tidying, the exhibition includes, badges, photographs, uniforms and other items of interest.
Museum volunteers are also hoping that one of their visitors, or perhaps a Packet reader, will be able to help solve a puzzle that surrounds a donation made by Penryn Town Council of a Chinese hanging to the Victoria & Albert Museum, in London, in 1980.
At 3.19 metres long, it is assumed that the piece was too large for display in the museum, hence its donation to the V&A.
Meg Andrews, a dealer in antique dress & textiles, has told volunteers at Penryn Museum that she has an identical hanging and another that is similar. She said they were made for the export Western market.
“One can tell from the style of design,” she explained. They would have been displayed in a high-ceilinged, important house somewhere and would probably have been inset in panels round a room. There were most likely six or eight.”
Meg, who regularly lectured at Sotheby's Institute on English Furnishings of the 16th and 17th centuries, has recently worked as a consultant to Leighton House, Kensington, the former home and studio of leading Victorian artist Frederic Lord Leighton (1830-1896).
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She said: “The hanging given by Penryn Town Council is the most extraordinary quality. The embroidery of the Opus Anglicanum period in Britain comes to mind. I would imagine they were part of a set of hangings produced as room panels for a grand, artistic house of the late 19th century or they may have been for an international exhibition.”
Apart from the fact the hanging was given to the council by the late Violetta Thurstan, a former Penryn resident and an internationally recognised authority on weaving, dying and textiles, no other information was found at the museum or in the council offices. Volunteers, and Meg, are hoping that a Packet reader might recall seeing the item on display in the 1970s or 1980s when visiting or working in one of the grand country houses in Cornwall.
Anyone who thinks they can throw light on the mystery is urged to call the museum on 01326 372158 or email Meg at meg@meg-andrews.com.
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