Part IV MISCELLANEOUS

Chapter 22. Embroidery, lace, tapestry
 

Embroidery     Lace     Tapestry     BOOKS

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Embroidery

Although the art of embroidery was practised very many centuries ago, the collector is unlikely to be able to acquire much that was made prior to about 1650. Pieces of earlier date are extremely rare; not only are the majority of them preserved carefully in cathedrals, churches and museums, but understandably time has taken its toll.

English work of the Middle Ages was famous throughout Europe, and the remaining examples show how justly its admiration was earned. The work most likely to attract the collector is the type that was popular in the mid-seventeenth century, and known for no explicable reason as stumpwork. It consists of embroidery on a panel of silk (usually white) in coloured silks with some of the principal features padded out, and often having human figures with carved wood heads, hands and feet. This type of work was made in the form of pictures, for covering the frames of mirrors, and for covering boxes; the latter usually fitted with numerous small drawers (some of them 'secret'), a mirror, and lined with pink paper bordered with silver tape.

Straightforward tent-stitch embroidery worked on a canvas backing, dating from the seventeenth century onwards, was stitched in both wool and silk, and occasionally with threads of gold and silver. Much of it has been preserved during the past 250 years, and a proportion retains much of its original brilliant colouring. By reason of its attractive appearance and its durability it is not surprising that this type of work continues to be done today. Eighteenth-century furniture with its original (or contemporary) hand-worked covering is, of course, rare, but the value of a piece is increased greatly by its presence.

In the third quarter of the eighteenth century there was a vogue for pictures, square, oblong, round and oval, worked in coloured silks on a silk background; the latter often embellished with touches of water-colour. Most of these have faded, others are found to have backgrounds rotted with age and neglect, but perfect examples may sometimes be found and are very decorative. Subjects varied from imitations of the patterns on Chinese porcelain to renderings of willowy ladies weeping at the tomb of Shakespeare, or at that of Werther following the publication of Goethe's Sorrows of Werther in 1774. A lady named Mary Lin-wood of Leicester, achieved fame towards the end of the eighteenth century by working elaborate embroidery pictures, mostly imitating well-known paintings, sixty-four of which she exhibited in London for many years.

The familiar sampler began as a reference panel of patterns and stitches, but by the eighteenth century it had become an exercise for children. They were embroidered with the letters of the alphabet, mottoes, verses, texts, and the date of execution together with the name of the worker. Late in the century the making of maps became popular. These were drawn in outline on silk, and the whole, including county boundaries and names, then stitched carefully in appropriate colours.

In the nineteenth century there was a fashion for working brilliantly coloured pictures in wool; many were after famous paintings, but the greater number were of Biblical subjects. They are known as Berlin woolwork, for both patterns and materials were prepared and exported from Prussia. They were sewn with thick wool and in big stitches, many were of large size and must have taken a considerable time to finish.

Beadwork is allied to embroidery, and was used on its own as well as in conjunction with work in wool and silk. It was widely popular in the seventeenth century, and revived during the reign of Queen Victoria when it was used often for making banners for firescreens and panels for covering footstools.

In other parts of Europe styles similar to those of England were followed, but with local variations in both designs and materials. Similarly, in America the inhabitants followed the styles that they, or their forbears, had followed before they reachedthat land. Much of the work is indistinguishable from European, but samplers exist with names of individuals and cities that make their identification certain.

Chinese embroiderers favoured silk, which they had in the first place introduced into the West, of which the production was pursued with zeal. Fine embroidery was used on robes, in many instances on both sides of the fabric with the thread-ends carefully concealed. It was used also with great effect in the form of pictures. Similar work was done by the Japanese.
 

Lace

Lace was once studied eagerly and extensively, but today only comparatively few collectors take notice of it. There is probably more interest shown in the equipment used in its making (pillow-lace bobbins, in particular) than in the finished material. A brief mention is made of some of the many varieties, but only the barest outline is attempted; the names of the many patterns and the. stitches employed would alone fill a book.

Hand-made lace is divided into two distinct types: that made with the needle, known as needlepoint; and that made with bobbins on a cushion, known as pillow. Basically, needlepoint lace is made from one single continuous thread, and pillow-lace from a number. In the latter, each thread is wound conveniently on a bobbin made of wood or bone, often the subject of 'folk* decoration, and many are hung at one end with a bunch of coloured glass beads.

In the sixteenth century lace-making was a flourishing art, pattern books began to appear, and both Venice and Flanders were early seats of activity. Stimulus was provided by fashion decreeing that lace should be worn by both sexes, and contemporary paintings prove its popularity.

The most renowned needlepoint laces were made at Alencon and Argentan, and at Brussels. It is stated that the net forming the background in some of the finer Alencon pieces was composed of hexagons with sides one-tenth of an inch long, these sides being 'overcast with some nine or ten buttonhole stitches'.

Pillow lace was made also in Venice and Flanders, and in other countries. In England, imports from Europe threatened the native industry, and prohibition of foreign work was followed by the immigration of some of the workers themselves. English pillow lace was produced in several places, Honiton in Devonshire being the most famous. Other centres of lesser importance were: Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Wiltshire, Dorset and Suffolk. Lace was made also in Ireland, principally in the nineteenth century.

Tapestry

Tapestry was used as a wall covering and, unlike needlework, was woven on a loom. Also, it was made in much larger sizes than would normally be worked in hand-stitched embroidery; panels of tapestry ten or twelve feet in height and twenty feet long are not uncommon. Wool was the material employed principally, but for special purposes silk was used. Gold and silver threads appear in many of the finest examples.

Brussels was the principal centre of tapestry-weaving from about the year 1500, and the enormous output over the years varied greatly in quality. Subjects included Roman and Biblical history, mythology, and peasant scenes after Teniers. Seventeenth-and eighteenth-century examples are often marred by the fact that time has faded their red dyes to a murky brown. Many Brussels tapestries bear a mark: a shield with a capital B at either side, and individual weavers sometimes added their names or initials.

In France there were two important factories: Beauvais and Gobelins, both founded in the second half of the seventeenth century. The former was a private concern with State support, the latter was a Royal factory and not until late in the eighteenth century could any of its productions be purchased. Both did work of high quality, Beauvais being especially famous for a series of panels based on the Fables of La Fontaine, and for many sets of chair and settee covers. The latter were made also at Gobelins, where in about 1775 they made some noteworthy sets of matching wall hangings and furniture covers. A superb example of this decorative harmony, in a room designed by Robert Adam, remains at Osterley Park, near London, and a suite of furniture (parted from its wall-hangings but still with its Gobelins covers) made for Moor Park in Hertfordshire, is now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. A few more of these rich ensembles are still intact, but a set of tapestries made for a salon at Croome Park in Warwickshire was sold some years ago for the sum of £50,000, and is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

At Aubusson, also in France, tapestry panels, chair covers and also tapestry carpets were made. Much of the output dates from the nineteenth century, although it is similar in pattern to work of an earlier period.

Tapestry was woven in Antwerp by Michael and Philip Wauters, who specialized in supplying foreign markets. Many of the panels made popular by other factories were copied with success, and these Flemish tapestries are confused frequently with the English productions they imitate.

It can be assumed that tapestry was woven in England from an early date; a Royal decree of 1364 refers to the corporation of Tapissers, but nothing of their work has been identified. The earliest surviving pieces, positively of English make, bear dates between about 1580 and 1600 and were made on looms set up at Barcheston, Warwickshire, by William Sheldon. Some fragments of tapestry maps of English counties, and other panels, have survived, and prove that Sheldon sponsored excellent work. More important was the factory started at Mortlake in 1620.

This was under the patronage of Charles I (both as Prince of Wales and as King), and operated successfully until the Civil War, which inevitably caused a decline in orders. After 1670 little work was done at Mortlake, and the factory removed eventually to Soho, London, where production was continued throughout the first half of the eighteenth century. Although the later work was not of the outstanding quality of the earlier Mortlake tapestry, it was adequate for normal usage in both town and country.

Tapestry is subject to damage by that enemy of all woollen fabrics: the moth. In addition, its very size and weight lead to deterioration over the years, and the action of sun, damp air and heat and smoke from Ares tends to perish the ageing fabric. Repair is feasible, but is apt to be expensive as there is a declining number of experts to whom such work can be entrusted.

Almost all tapestries left the loom complete with a border, varying in pattern from factory to factory and over the years, after the manner of a picture frame. In the course of time, these borders have often been mutilated or replaced, and it should be borne in mind by the collector that the presence or absence of the original border greatly affects the value of a panel.

BOOKS

Needlework: Domestic Needlework, by S. G. Seligman and T. Hughes illustrates and describes specimens ranging from caps and gloves to cushions and pictures. Catalogue of English Domestic Embroidery, by J. L. Nevinson (1950),* issued by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Lace: The Romance of Lace, by M. E. Jones (1951) deals with the history of the subject from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century.

Tapestry: A History of Tapestry, by W. G. Thomson (1930), French Tapestry, by Andre Lejard (1946), and English Tapestries of the 18th Century, by H. C. Marillier (1930).