Hera

Three cotton fragments with a design of overlapping peacock feathers in gold and pale pink on a deep blue background by Liberty & Co. Ltd. This very faded sample probably dates from ca. 1890, although the design itself was produced earlier. In 2012, Liberty was still selling fabric in this design known as 'Hera'. The design has been attributed to Arthur Silver. The first record of this was in the 'Exhibition of Victorian & Edwardian Decorative Arts' (VEDA) catalogue from 1952, where it is listed as No.Y9 (a copy of this catalogue is held by MoDA, under the reference number JMR812). However, recent research undertaken by Harry Lyons calls these attributions into question. He refers to documents from the Patent Office Design Registry (PODR), which show that the design was first registered as a silk weave in December 1876 by the manufacturers Wm Fry, of Dublin. Lyons argues this, along with other evidence, suggests that the design now known as 'Hera' may in fact have been designed by Christopher Dresser (see Lyons (2005), 'Christopher Dresser: The People's Designer 1834-1904', The Antique Collectors' Club, p. 243).