Events and Exhibitions

Monday 16 October–Saturday 18 November 2023

Witney Antiques (Witney, Oxfordshire) will be holding their largest ever exhibition—Choice and Precious Work: Treasures from the Schoolroom—this autumn. The exhibition will celebrate schoolgirl accomplishments from 1650–1750. Accompanying the exhibition will be a major book with extensive essays and a full catalogue.

Among the highlights of the Choice and Precious Work: Treasures from the Schoolroom exhibition will be a suite of needlework produced by seventeenthcentury London Quaker Elizabeth Hall and a century of her Quaker descendants. Having remained in the family since 1683, Hall’s suite, which includes but is not limited to a workbox, pincushions, valentines, baby linens and needle cases, is the most complete set of needlework known to have come out of early modern England since those made by Martha Edlin and Hannah Downes. Research undertaken on the Hall suite and other Quaker needlework will upend previously held beliefs about Quaker girlhood. The exhibition will also feature embroidered and cut paper work caskets and cabinets, embroidered and rolled paper work mirror frames, a variety of beadwork, and accessories such as purses, pin cushions and embroidered nutmegs.

For more information visit the Witney Antiques website: witneyantiques.com or find them on Facebook or Instagram.