Witney Antiques

Off into the countryside again today! Back on "the Oxford Tube" which is a bus service from London to Oxford, where we switch to a city bus that drops us in Witney about 45 minutes later - just down the street from Witney Antiques. We have all seen those wonderful catalogues they publish - now I was going to see the real thing!

Each fall, they do an exhibition and publish a new catalogue - and I've missed this year's "Stitched in Adversity - Orphanage and Charity School samplers" by just a few weeks, but of course, many of those pieces are still at the store, and there are rooms of just samplers to look at!

Joy Jarrett, the proprietor, meets us at the door and we are ushered in - the first pieces we see are 17th C. embroideries - many of them raised work. Joy shows me a large Elizabethan panel which is in perfect condition - she has just received it from the framers - I'm the first person to see it! This room has some real wonders - my favorite was a piece of raised work with the most masterful purlwork I could imagine! All the foliage is little loops of purl in many different colors of green - I've never seen it in so many colors. Such an effective use of it. Also in this room is a gorgeous casket - beautiful silk embroideries all around - it's displayed on a rotating platform, in a glass box - just incredible - in very fine condition. Another favorite is a piece depicting Orion and a dolphin singing together (I'm sure I've mixed up the story somehow - it was one I didn't recognize - at any rate, you have Orion and a dolphin (you can see the scales on the fish) and a ship in water) - all in the most wonderful metalwork!

Then we head upstairs to the sampler gallery - three rooms just filled with the most gorgeous samplers - all in exquisite condition. Many are German band samplers with areas of spots - most with an Adam and Eve - absolutely marvelous! Fresh, vibrant colors - Joy tells me most of those are from one collection which had been seized by the Nazi's in the '30's and not brought out until the 1990's when they were repatriated to the family of the original owner, and they sold off the needlework. So they have not been exposed to light and are in fantastic shape! 

Another one that caught my eye was a small strawberry sampler with many beautiful stitches all in bright red and cream - very sweet and pretty - I think not counted because the vines are very curved in a very natural pattern in stem stitch - it was so eye-catching. I'd not seen another like it - Joy says she knows of two similar ones but not any others.

We'd arrived around 11:30 and about 1:00 Joy suggested we might want to run next door into their local pub for lunch and come back again later, which we did. Witney is a lovely little hamlet with the gorgeous old stone buildings (one of which holds Witney Antiques) - and the pub - The Three Horseshoes - is one of these - very charming. We had "Cottage Pie" by the fire with a glass of wine - just a delightful sojourn. 

Then we were back and Joy was showing me some of the other orphan pieces - three wonderful huswifs, which she has had framed in reversible frames. Terrific pieces! A last look around, and we were ready to head home. 

What a beautiful day - just a delight. If you do come to England, I thoroughly recommend stopping at Witney - Joy is so gracious and knowledgable - you'll have a lovely time talking samplers with a fellow needlework lover!