King George VI

Woven on silk:-

Printed at bottom of card-mount:-
H.M. KING GEORGE VI.
SILK PICTURE WOVEN BY THOMAS STEVENS (COVENTRY) LTD.

Card-mount:
30.0cm deep by 23.2cm wide

silk:
17.0cm deep by 10.0cm wide

by Sprake:
 

by Godden:
King George VI (Prince Albert) was born at Sandringham on 14 December 1895, the second son of King George V and Queen Mary. As a young man he served in the Royal Navy and saw action at Jutland in 1916. In June 1920 he was created Duke of York; and on 26 April married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (see QUEEN ELIZABETH, so240).
On the abdication of his elder brother, King Edward VIII, on 11 December 1936, he succeeded to the British throne, the coronation taking place on 12 May 1937.
George VI died on 6 February 1952, and was succeeded by his elder daughter, who became Queen Elizabeth II.

This large-size untitled portrait silk measuring approximately 9 inches by 12 inches and its pair QUEEN ELIZABETH (so240) were the last two Stevengraph silks published.
The new King is shown uncrowned facing left, and the composition includes small unnamed views of Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament and Balmoral Castle, one in each of the four corners of the frame-like surround.

This silk is normally found mounted in the centre of a hanging 1937 wall-calendar, similar to that of QUEEN ELIZABETH, which has the date of 1938.
These calendar-mounted specimens are now rare, for few were preserved.

The silk portrait is also found, but rarely, in the card-mount shown above, with the late form of credit, 'Woven in silk by Thomas Stevens (Coventry) Ltd', but I believe that these were remounted silks that had originally been part of a calendar.

Considering their late date, these royal portrait silks are surprisingly rare.

I have been informed by Mr Hill, the former Managing Director of Messrs Thomas Stevens (Coventry) Ltd, that they had prepared the design for Edward VIII and were actually weaving examples at the time of his abdication in December 1936. To save time and expense, the head of the new King, George VI, was added to his brother's body - so in effect the silk is a unique composite one.

Other comments:
The Stevengraph portrait silk above was also used in the 1937 calendar

Out of interest, Godden mentions that this portrait, and that of Queen Elizabeth, were the last two Stevengraph silks produced. Whilst these two were probably the last portrait silks to be produced, on this site is recorded a calendar for 1939, with the Stevengraph picture of WARWICK CASTLE - THE WATER FRONT, and this picture is more likely to be the last Stevengraph; other than the later bookmark of The Marriage of Princess Elizabeth (their eldest daughter).