The first in a series of eight tapestry panels "The Merry Wives of Windsor", which, with No.1 "Queen Victoria", made a total of nine, gold medal winning, exhibits at The Paris Exhibition of 1878.

Date: 1877
Artist: T. W. Hay
Subject: Act III, scene III; a room in Ford's house in Windsor. The time: just before the love-sick Falstaff escapes in the laundry basket. Mistress Page and Mistress Ford stand smiling nervously by a basket of dirty linen; behind them Falstaff attempts to keep out of sight behind an ornate curtain. On the right, the country gentlemen, Mr. Page and the suspicious Mr. Ford enter to search for Falstaff. They are followed by Sir Hugh Evans, the Welsh Parson, and the tall bearded figure of Dr. Caius, the French physician. In the garden a small fountain plays, and (top right) the tiled conical roof of a tower in the outer wall of Windsor Castle rises above a philadelphus tree in flower. Mistress Ford's servants Robert and John stand waiting (left, by a pillar of honeysuckle) ready to carry the laundry basket to Datchet Mead, by the River Thames. A peacock with its long tail trailing faces Mr. Ford, whose dog jumps to greet him across a bed of lilies. A bush bearing oranges grows in a large decorated pot in the centre foreground, with a square carved wood post behind, which has a thrush perched at the top.
Cartoon: Not known
Size: 6 ft. 3.5 in. high by 12 ft. 6 in. (Inside border: 4 ft. 10.5 in. by 11 ft.)
Warps: 16 per inch
Colours: Described in the Furniture Gazette, 26 January 1878, as "soft and pleasant", these are cheerful and bright with the flowers and colours of the gowns and clothing. Many of the flowers to be found in Elizabethan gardens are to be seen in the tapestry, the Eglantine or Sweetbriar, Lilium candidum or Madonna Lily, carnations, tulips, cyclamen, daisies, cowslips and primroses, as well as daffodils and other narcissi. Fruits including grapes, peaches, blackberries and raspberries, lemons and oranges all complete with their leaves and in full colour in the picture or borders. The figures all have period dress, Robert a brown and blue tunic and a brown hat on his fair hair. All that can be seen of John is a red hat above his light brown hair, and the top of his red cape.
Mistress Ford has a dark blue cap with a gold net over, she has fair hair. She wears a white muslin "fraisette" or small ruff. Her bodice is edged gold, and she has a gold necklace. Her sleeves are puffed and light blue and grey striped, the lower sleeve being bright crimson at the top, and white underneath, banded and lined with gold strips. Her skirt is gathered and light blue. Mistress Page has a white edged soft bonnet with a gold band and black back, a white gathered muslin neck to her gown with its blue embroidered gold shoulder straps and her square necked bodice with light blue sleeve tops and crimson arms above the crimson brocade skirt with its bottom border of contrasting brown embroidery. She stands behind the open laundry basket of soiled linen, and behind her is a carved table leg and tasseled edge of an embroidered brown table cloth, also the half drawn red embroidered curtain which Falstaff holds half concealing his fat body. His brown cap has an ostrich feather trimming; he wears a brown jerkin with red trimming to the bottom. His sleeves are light blue at the top, and crimson lower down. A long striped sword sheath, brown and blue striped pantaloons, and blue stockings above his great top-boots. The pot containing the orange plant has a blue pattern, and beside it the vivid colours of the peacock's tail contrast with the sober speckled breast of the thrush on the post top, and the sunlit garden beyond, across which approach Mr. Ford with his red cap, grey-brown hair and moustache, light coloured shirt collar and red striped doublet, which has red facings and sleeves. On his finger is a ring, and in his hand a stout stick.
Mr. Page has a blue striped cap on his brown hair, his gown is edged with reddish fur, and his lower sleeves are light blue. Behind him is Dr. Caius with his dark hair and beard, light red cap and blue gown with brown and white striped sleeves, and a dark belt. Sir Hugh Evans has a light brown hat on his greyish hair, a saffron brown gown with red lower sleeves, a prominent brown pouch on a belt, and a long staff over his shoulder. The glossy Italian whippet bounds towards Ford past a row of lilies. Whether all the details would have been found in Windsor in the 1590s, let alone the 15th century of Henry IV, Falstaff's period, is doubtful.
Border: Separately woven, and the strips, 82 in. wide-sewn on. The series comprises continuous chains of panels of flowers and some fruits outlined by strips of shades of brown to give the effect of bevelling. The top and bottom of "The Merry Wives" each have six square sections of border, with between them alternately longer sections containing branches of flowers and/or fruits, whereas the squares contain sprays of flowers. The latter include daisies, sweet peas, cowslips, kingcups, honeysuckle and roses, the fruits including peaches, lemons, grapes and blackberries, all on a blue ground. The ribbon "Ye Merrie Wives" in the centre of the lower border has dark reddish purple letters on a light ground with bands of gold, on a blue background.
Marks: T. W. Hay (bottom right, half hidden by border. This is due to the border being sewn on the selvedge of the tapestry scene). Bottom left of the scene in deep red is the Windsor mark of a stylised crown above _l l_ Windsor Tapestry 1877 No. 2 (top line), H. Henry, M. Brignolas (second line).
Sale prices: Not known
Exhibited: Paris Exhibition 1878, Gold Medal, with No. 1 of the set of nine the tapestry portrait of Queen Victoria. (See No. 1). Windsor Guildhall, December 1878.
Ownership: Commissioned by Gillow & Co., of Oxford Street, London. Bought complete with the entire decor of the Prince of Wales' dining room in the British Pavilion at the Paris Exhibition 1878 by Sir Albert Sassoon for the dining room of his mansion at 25 Kensington Gore.
References: Furniture Gazette, 26 January and 7 September, 1878
WE, 7 December, 1878
The Windsor Express, 9 November, 1878, reported: "OLD WINDSOR TAPESTRY WINS GOLD MEDAL... the award has given tremendous satisfaction to Her Majesty who has now commanded that all the tapestries at the Palace of Holyrood shall be sent to Old Windsor for renovation. Many... are in a bad state of repair, some even falling to pieces."
Art Journal, 1879, p.64
WT
Addendum: It was thought that apart from the tapestry portrait of Queen Victoria none of this series had survived, but seven of the missing eight were collected by Messrs. Christies (Christie, Manson & Woods Ltd., St. James's, London) in preparation for auction later in the autumn of 1978. This only became known in September 1978 when the text of this volume had already gone to press. Previously little information and only shadowy vague outlines could be gleaned from the above accounts and from rare engravings showing the Prince of Wales's dining room at the Paris Exhibition of 1878, and the Exhibition at the Town Hall, Windsor, in December 1878.

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