Antique carpet returns to Eltham Palace
After 80 years, an antique Chinese carpet is to go on display in its original home at Eltham Palace and Gardens.
Following the donation of the historic item from the estate of Mrs M R Bernard, the niece of Stephen Courtauld, the carpet has undergone extensive conservation work by experts and is now on display in Virgina Courtauld’s boudoir.
Dyed the dynastic blue of the Qing dynasty with a pattern rich in symbolism, the carpet represents the taste for Chinese decorative arts during the 1920s and 30s, particularly among upper class collectors.
During the Victorian era, there was an increase in demand of objects that evoked an imagined Chinese tradition at the same time as catering to modern Western tastes. By the early twentieth century, Chinese carpets, once rare in European interiors, had become desirable markers of refinement and global awareness.
The Courtaulds’ acquisition of a Chinese carpet for Eltham Palace reflects this moment when modern design, elite collecting practices, and imperial trade networks converged, shaping how Chinese art was produced, circulated, and displayed in Britain.
In 1936 Stephen and Virginia Courtauld built a magnificent art deco mansion right next to the medieval Great Hall of Eltham Palace in Eltham. Creating a masterpiece of modern interiors. In May 1944 they moved out and passed the lease to the Army Educational Corps. During that time and in subsequent years many original items were dispersed, with some ending up in museum collections.
Since taking on the care of the site in 1995, English Heritage have worked to restore and present the interior in a way that is authentic to the Courtaulds’ time at Eltham. The carpet joins a series of original items which have returned to the palace in recent history including a gold telephone and a pair of Cartier brooches.
Visitors will be able to enjoy the carpet’s symbols such as dragons, Buddhist emblems and masks, as well as the item’s vivid colours. Poignantly the artefact returns as English Heritage marks 100 years of Seely and Paget, the architect partnership who designed Eltham Palace. An informative trail around the site will dissect the palace’s unique architecture.
The carpet also helps paint a clearer picture of the interior design of the Palace, and how it was influenced by the rapidly changing modern world in which the Courtaulds lived.
The carpet has breen on display in Virgina Courtauld’s Boudoir at Eltham Palace since Saturday 9th May 2026.
For more details and opening times:
www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/eltham-palace-and-gardens
Photograph: English Heritage 