ELTHAM PALACE CARPET APPEAL
We need your help to restore the original Eltham Palace boudoir carpet so it can be returned to it's rightful place in Virginia Courtauld's boudoir.
Donate to restore Eltham's boudoir carpet
The acquisition of the original Boudoir carpet is a fantastic opportunity to repatriate an object used at the house during the period Stephen and Virginia Courtauld lived at Eltham Palace. It was located in Virginia Courtauld’s ‘boudoir’ – her living room – which contained, along with the carpet, her sumptuously upholstered built-in sofa and private telephone line. Virginia was the life and soul of the party so this room was well-used by guests at Eltham.
The carpet’s oriental design reflects Virginia’s exuberant aesthetic tastes and love of travel, much of which was planned in the adjacent map room – with its entrance leading off the boudoir. After the Courtauld’s left Eltham in 1946 they took all their furnishings, including the carpet, first to Scotland and then to Zimbabwe where they lived until Stephen’s death in 1967. The Courtauld’s descendants have recently offered the carpet as a gift to Eltham Palace and we are now fundraising for its conservation and display.