1702

Silk and Satin Souvenir of a Ship Lost in a Typhoon.

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:90.00 USD Estimated At:180.00 - 250.00 USD
Silk and Satin Souvenir of a Ship Lost in a Typhoon.
Magnificent - and dramatic - tapestry, "In Memory of my Cruise in the Philippine Islands / Hawaii - China - and - Japan / S.S. Elkton /1920 / Barton L. Hayward," comprising embroidered and hand-painted silks, inlaid panels of quilted color satins, and nautically-striped braided cord. Believed made proximate to that year. 16 1/2 x 19 1/4 visible, with original 3"-wide pasted paper frame sandwiched over Japanese-style exotic long-fibered core. A superb creation, evidently made to his specification in the Orient, probably Japan. With silver and copper-embroidered eagle atop American shield, two American flags, and flags of six other nations. Remarkably detailed rendition of his ship - a cargo freighter - even its curling smoke delicately painted in black on ivory satin background. The Elkton plied the Pacific to Hong Kong, Hawaii, The Philippines, and other Asian ports. All hands were lost in a 1927 typhoon, as she carried coconut oil and sugar from Iloilo to N.Y. Responding to her S.O.S., another ship "found only an extensive oil patch covering an area of about two hundred square miles...No wreckage was located..."--The Guam Recorder, Mar. 1927 (modern copy of account accompanies). Barton Hayward, who commissioned this tapestry, probably served with Capt. Frank Swift, later founder of Maine Windjammer Cruises. Old soft folds, some tears, wear, and wrinkling of paper backing and borders, almost all mattable, the live fabric area strikingly beautiful, lustrous, vibrant, and very fine. Request color photograph.