British Galleries: Sumpter cloths were used as decorative hangings but originally they were designed to cover goods being carried by packhorses. The design would have been visible either side of the animal. Each of the winged boys adopts a different pose against Baroque acanthus scrollwork. [27/03/2003] Sumpter tapestry hanging. Woven in wool and silk on a woollen warp. Decorated with ten naked and winged boys flanking baskets of flowers and fruit, the four largest baskets are angled into the corners, on a yellow ground. The spaces are filled with brightly polychrome acanthus stems, fruit and flowers. Boys and baskets cast dark red shadows. All four borders face outwards. The border design, with scrolling blue acanthus stems as background to small spread eagles in the corners and griffins with foliate trails supporting swags of flowers on each side, a version of a wider border with coat-of-arms hiding the griffins' tails. Sumpter tapestry hanging woven in wool and silk on a woollen warp, woven in Mortlake Tapestry Factory, Mortlake, 1675-1700 Object Type
The unusual design of this tapestry, in particular the positions of the figures, suggesting two side flaps, and the directional effects of the shadows, makes it probable that it was designed as a sumpter cloth. Sumpter cloths were used to cover bales of goods moved by packhorses, in the case of wealthy property owners between their houses. The cloths were often richly embroidered or made of tapestry, sometimes with their owner's arms. When not in use on journeys they could be hung as decorative wall hangings.

Place
This tapestry may have come from Drayton House in Northamptonshire. Drayton had a set listed in an inventory drawn up under Sir John Germaine (died 1718), described as 'four pieces of tapestry gold colour'd hangings with boys and flowers', in a drawing room.

Design & Designing
The border design here is a simplified version of a wider border with coats of arms on a set of tapestries made for Ralph Montagu, later Earl of Montagu, between 1673 and 1684. During that period Montagu owned the premises of the Mortlake workshop, where those tapestries are likely to have been made. The design for the border would have been kept in the workshop, available to be copied for this sumpter cloth.