For more than a century, the Spirit of Ecstasy has symbolised elegance and human achievement, inspiring countless works of art, from music to photography and moving image. In 2024, the year the marque celebrates its 120th anniversary, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars pays homage to its timeless muse in a unique Private Collection, named Phantom Scintilla. Based on Phantom Extended – the ultimate canvas for personalisation – this magnificent collection celebrates the ethereal beauty, grace and legacy of the Spirit of Ecstasy.
Limited to just ten examples worldwide, Rolls-Royce Phantom Scintilla’s design evokes the wonder of the Spirit of Ecstasy’s fleeting presence: its exquisite interior features were inspired by the apparent movement of her robes, as the motor car glides by.
Graceful Bespoke embroidery flowing throughout the interior captures the Spirit of Ecstasy’s elegant dynamism, culminating in a complex Gallery artwork. Carefully curated design features allude to the figurine’s origins with their references to Parian Marble: it was in this famed material that, more than 2,000 years ago, an unknown genius of Classical Greece sculpted The Winged Victory of Samothrace, the statue that inspired Claude Johnson’s original idea for a Rolls‑Royce mascot.
Phantom Scintilla derives its name from the Latin word for ‘spark’ – a bright flash, witnessed only for an instant. This refers to Claude Johnson’s first flash of inspiration for a mascot, the aforementioned Greek statue, and captures the Spirit of Ecstasy’s ethereal grace – something glimpsed only for a moment as the motor car passes by, but which leaves a lasting impression.
A NEW CHAPTER TO AN OLD STORY
In 1910, Rolls-Royce Managing Director Claude Johnson commissioned sculptor and illustrator Charles Sykes to create a Rolls-Royce mascot. Johnson already had an inspiration in mind: on a trip to Paris, he had visited the Louvre and been greatly impressed by the Greek marble statue of a deity descending from the heavens – The Winged Victory of Samothrace, which dates from 190 BCE.
Sykes, however, felt the statue was too domineering to be a suitable subject. Having often travelled in Silver Ghosts, he believed a more delicate, ethereal figure would better express the marque’s grace, silence and subtle power. It is now generally accepted that he took his inspiration for what would become the Spirit of Ecstasy from Eleanor Thornton, Lord Montagu’s secretary and paramour. In creating Phantom Scintilla, the Bespoke Collective has reclaimed some of Johnson’s original inspiration, by introducing new materials and subtle references to the captivating vision of The Winged Victory of Samothrace.
MATERIAL MAGIC
The famed statue is sculpted in Parian marble, a fine-grained white marble quarried during the classical era on the Greek island of Paros. Known for its purity and radiance, this material allows light to penetrate to a depth of several centimetres, giving it a lustre that appears to come from within.
For Phantom Scintilla, the Spirit of Ecstasy figurine has been given a ceramic finish that skilfully alludes to the texture of Parian marble, while retaining its familiar femininity and ethereality – a Rolls-Royce icon that finally unites the visions of both Johnson and Sykes.
“We were fascinated with the qualities of Parian marble, and this material became the subject of our research for many months. To create a clear and elegant connection to the famed statue, we developed a ceramic finish that captures the translucence and purity of this unique stone, and perfectly embraces the ethereal nature of our icon”.
Celina Mettang, Bespoke Colour and Material Designer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
EXTERIOR: GREEK INSPIRATION
Phantom Scintilla’s exterior is presented in a two-tone Bespoke finish. The upper body is in Andalusian White, with the lower body in Thracian Blue, inspired by the colours of the sea around the island of Samothrace, whence the statue of The Winged Victory of Samothrace originates. A subtle metallic flake mimics the sparkle of sunlight on the water. The hand-painted double Coachline and Wheel Pinstripes in Spirit Blue complete the graceful exterior.
INTERIOR: EXPRESSIVE MOVEMENT
The interior is filled with design elements, textures and a continuous graphic inspired by the Spirit of Ecstasy’s expressive, dynamic form – the result of an intense collaboration between Bespoke designers and artisans. The graphic moves through the cabin, embracing the occupants in an uninterrupted flow of energy.
“We wanted to create a single graphic that almost appears as a watercolour artwork – we call it ‘painting with thread’. To create a luminescent effect, we used four different colours, thread thicknesses and stitch orientations. In doing so, we covered areas never explored in a Rolls-Royce before, achieving the most extensive density of embroidery ever seen in a Rolls-Royce motor car.”
Katrin Lehmann, Bespoke Colour and Material Designer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
The lead artisan tasked with bringing this idea to life, Brienny Dudley, experimented with a variety of stitches and hues before selecting the tatami stitch, which was applied over six layers, interlacing in varying degrees of density and complexity. The full interior composition comprises 869,500 stitches and takes over 40 hours to complete.
“Translating this design into a three-dimensional form was a wonderful creative challenge, requiring more than two and a half years of close collaboration with our Bespoke design team to achieve the right level of detail, texture and tactility in the embroidery. Having two canvases – leather and fabric – added another level of complexity, as these materials respond to stitching in different ways. 36 individually embroidered panels had to be carefully curated so that they aligned perfectly, creating a seamless, flowing motif through the interior suite.”
Brienny Dudley, Bespoke Craft Specialist, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
The embroidered motif on the doors – the most complex door design ever seen on a Rolls-Royce – is made of 633,000 stitches combining Blue Grey, Arctic White, Spirit Blue, Powder Blue and Pastel Yellow thread, complemented by illuminated perforations. By night, the embroidery takes on a mesmerising, luminescent sparkle and appears to glow from within. The seats are upholstered in a twill fabric with a subtle reflective sheen, providing an additional complexity to the material interplay within the interior. 236,500 stitches applied in Blue Grey, Arctic White and Spirit Blue thread continue the complex graphic spanning across the four doors.
‘CELESTIAL PULSE’ GALLERY ARTWORK
The centrepiece of Phantom Scintilla is a Bespoke artwork in the Gallery which runs the full width of the front fascia. Entitled Celestial Pulse, the work consists of seven ribbons, each individually milled from solid aluminium, before being adorned with the same finely-grained ceramic finish as the Spirit of Ecstasy figurine. The edges are polished to a mirror shine so that they catch the light, creating a sense of movement and fluidity.
Claude Johnson’s original brief for a Rolls-Royce mascot is displayed on an embossed plate concealed in the glove compartment. These words, written in 1910, wonderfully capture the essence of the Phantom Scintilla Private Collection: ‘Speed with silence, the absence of vibration, the mysterious harnessing of great energy, and a beautiful living organism of superb grace’.
‘FLEETING MOMENT’ STARLIGHT HEADLINER
Phantom Scintilla’s Bespoke Starlight Headliner features an animation inspired by the Spirit of Ecstasy’s flowing gown. 1,500 fibre-optic ‘stars’, all placed and fitted by hand in a unique pattern, illuminate in sequence, adding to the sense of motion. The design is completed with a further 4,450 perforations deliberately made larger than usual to reveal glimpses of a metallic silver fabric beneath, creating a subtle interplay of light.
GRACEFUL DETAILS
The sense of movement continues on the rear picnic tables, with a delicate graphic capturing the Spirit of Ecstasy’s fluidity of motion. The motif is applied with the masking technique on top of the glossy iridescent surface, then hand-sanded and coated with a matte finish, creating the illusion of two subtle, shifting colours. The full wood set is rendered in Arctic White and finished with a lacquer mixed with iridescent metallic particles. To achieve the effect, craftspeople apply up to 19 coats of lacquer – a process that takes more than 190 hours per motor car.
The Private Collection name is engraved on the polished stainless-steel treadplates. As a finishing touch, each commission is supplied with a Bespoke car cover.
The Rolls-Royce Phantom Scintilla Private Collection is available exclusively through the marque’s international Private Office network.