Versailles Sash

A sash cut from a length of bright yellow satin woven with a dark green stripe along each edge. The ends have been cut in a zig-zag. The sash is printed with a neoclassical scene in the centre and two smaller matching scenes at either end. The scenes are stipple engraved in green ink. The image in the centre is set in a spindle shaped frame. It depicts four nymphs dancing to the music of a piper, seated on a rock to the left, and of a cupid who stands on the rock playing a pipe and drum. The three nymphs to the left hold a garland while the third and fourth nymphs hold hands. On the right a girl hands over two sheep, whom she is leading by a garland, to the fourth nymph.

An inscription running below the lower right edge of the frame reads,' Versailles Sash Publish'd Augt. 1 1788 by Clay & Hunt Wood Street'; with further inscriptions printed on the lower edge of the frame in the centre reading , 'Published [sic] Decr 1 1788 by Clay & Hunt Wood Street/ Publish'd Dec 7 1788 by Clay & Hunt Wood Street'. To the left of the image a small oval frame encloses the inscription, 'Oates/St. AGNES PIER/ Sash'.

The scenes at either end are enclosed in similar oval frames and depict Cupid disarmed by Euphrosyne. The are four symmetrical areas of wear, presumably from being tied as a sash, and a few small holes, possibly pin-holes.

Oates is Mr Richard Oates, a merchant of Penryn and resident of St. Agnes in Cornwall, who instigated a scheme to build a pier at St. Agnes in about 1783. An Act of Parliament authorising the construction of the pier was passed in 1793 and the building works were eventually completed in 1798. The area around St. Agnes was rich in tin and copper and the pier was used for importing coal to power the steam engines in the mines and to export copper for smelting to S. Wales. Finance for the scheme was raised by Oates in London and the works were supervised by the City Surveyor, Richard Wooding.