Cut Flowers

This attractive composition of flowers displayed in a wicker basket has been created from cut black paper. The basket is set within an intricately cut garland of flowers and foliage. Framed in a period Hogarth-style ebonised frame with gilded borders, the creator of this neatly executed work has not been named though there is an enigmatic inscription on the backing board that appears to read ‘for Drawings / for Mrs Bos’? The frame has a few old worm holes to the bottom edge (mostly underneath) and the hanger is a later replacement.

The art of paper-cutting was fashionable at the Court of George III whose daughter, Princess Elizabeth, was an ardent cutter. Tiny sharp scissors and pointed quill knives were used to cut the paper with great delicacy. Barbara Anne Townshend published a guide to ‘The Art of Cutting Out Designs on Black Paper’ in 1808 recommending the use of scissors with ‘long shanks’. Flowers were much favoured for these cuttings and examples can sometimes be found preserved in young ladies’ commonplace books.