Victorian Hexagonal Mauchline Fern Ware Three Hole Thread Box, C. 1880

Victorian hexagonal Mauchline fern ware thread box with three holes. Lift is hinged to reveal the three internal spool holders. Small labels below two of the holes but the third is missing. Age crack to one side.

Charming and very decorative piece of Victorian sewing memorabilia.

Fern ware is a form of Mauchline ware. The Mauchline ware producer, W. & A. Smith, was listed as a manufacturer of ‘the new brown and coloured fern designs’ in 1872. Another manufacturer linked to the production of fern ware was Archibald Brown’s Caledonian Fancy Wood Works in nearby Lanark. The process for decorating fern ware was skilled and complex and as such it was sometimes carried out by small-scale producers or as a sub-contracted cottage industry. Dried fern leaves were pinned in place before being sprayed or speckled with coloured dyes and varnish. Repeating this process in layers gave fern ware its delicate, three-dimensional quality. Reputedly, the ferns were collected from the Isle of Arran, but some of the images feature ferns from as far away as New Zealand and South America. Fern collecting became a craze in Victorian society in the 1850s and the fern motif became popular for souvenirs and furniture.