ROBERT BURNS

Woven on silk:-

	Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to min' ? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And days o' lang syne?
	BURNS.

Printed at bottom of card-mount:-
 

 

Card-mount:
cm deep by cm wide

silk:
cm deep by cm wide

by Sprake:
Four lines of verse in green, and the title "BURNS" in black, are woven above the portrait, which faces right. The portrait is much smaller than STG74 [so140 on this site], and apart from small details it is similar to a bookmarker depicting the poet [recorded as sb2580 on this site]. Below the portrait is a spray of thistles.

by Godden:
The well know Scottish poet was born in 1759 and died in 1796.
This subject, the first non-political small sized portrait woven by Thomas Stevens, is listed on label 23+10+2 of c.1887. It is normally found mounted on card C2. The title was included in an advertisement published in May 1887.

Three versions are at present known - although a fourth may exist without the spray of thistle woven across the front.

The version most often met with has the portrait facing half right, with a spray of thistles woven across the front of the jacket. No wording appears on the silk - only the title and credit printed on the mount [so140 on this site].

A variation of this first version occurs [so144 on this site] when slight shading is woven up to eye-level.

The very rare smaller version, [that is, the image above], shows the same basic portrait, but with a verse of 'Auld Lang Syne' woven above the portrait.  

Other comments:
From a paper envelope used to post the original pictures and portraits, it is confirmed the flowers are Thistles.