but came into the hands of the Bridgettine nuns in 1414, when Henry V.
founded the convent of "Syon" at Isleworth. Its origin and date will
ever be a matter of conjecture, but Dr. Rock infers that Coventry may
have been the place of its origin. Taking Coventry as a centre with a
small radius, several of the great feudal houses the arms of which are
on the border of the cope may be found, and Dr. Rock further supposes
that Eleanor, widow of Edward the First, may have become a sister of the
fraternity unknown, as her arms, Castile and Leon, are on it. "The whole
must have taken long in working, and the probability is that it was
embroidered by nuns of some convent which stood on or near Coventry."
However this may be, it is certain that this splendid piece of English
work came into the hands, by some means, of the nuns of Syon, and after
remaining with them at Isleworth till Elizabeth's time, it was carried
by them through Flanders, France, and Portugal. They remained at the
latter place till the same persecution which dispersed the famous
Spanish Point lace over the length and breadth of the Continent, and
about eighty years ago it was brought back to England, and was given by
the remaining members of the Order to the Earl of Shrewsbury. After
further vicissitudes of a varied character it was bought by the South
Kensington Museum for £110, and now sheds the glory of its golden
threads in a dark transept unnoticed except by the student.
III
ECCLESIASTICAL EMBROIDERIES AND VESTMENTS
[Illustration: HALF OF THE STEEPLE ASTON ALTAR FRONTAL.
English, Fourteenth Century.]
III
ECCLESIASTICAL EMBROIDERIES AND VESTMENTS
The Pierpont Morgan purchase--The Steeple Aston
Altar-frontal--The "Nevil" Altar-frontal at S. K. M.--City
palls--Diagram of vestments.
Other copes of the same period are in the Madrid Museum, two copes at
Bologna, and the "Ascoli" cope recently purchased by Mr. J. Pierpont
Morgan and generously returned by him. Some cushions from Catworth
Church, Huntingdon, now at the South Kensington Museum, were probably
cut from copes, and bought by permission of the Bishop of Ely for £27. A
long band of red velvet at South Kensington Museum embroidered with gold
and silver and coloured silk has evidently been made from the "Apparels"
of an alb. It is in two pieces, each piece depicting five scenes divided
by broad arches. The first five are from the life of the Virgin, and
are: "The Angel appearing to Anna," "The Meeting of Anna and Joachim,"
"Birth of the Virgin," "Presentation of the Virgin," "Education of the
Virgin." In the second piece are: "The Annunciation," "The Salutation,"
"The Nativity," "The Angel appearing to the Shepherds," and the
"Journey of the Magi."
Another piece of similar work is the altar-frontal of Steeple Aston,
which was originally a cope, and the cope now at Stonyhurst College,
originally belonging to Westminster Cathedral. It is made of one
seamless piece of gold tissue.
During this great period of English embroidery certain characteristics
along with its superb workmanship must be noticed. The earlier the work
the finer the modelling of the figures. In the figures of the St.
Cuthbert and the Worcester fragments the proportions of the figures are
exquisite; at a later date, while the work is just as excellent, the
figures become unnatural, the heads being unduly large, the eyes
staring, and the perspective entirely out of drawing. Until the
fourteenth century this comes so gradually as to be scarcely noted; but
after and through the fifteenth century this becomes so marked as to be
almost grotesque, and only the genuine religious fervour with which
these poor remnants have been worked prevents many of them being
ridiculous. The faces gradually show less careful drawing and working,
and the figures become squat and topheavy. The emblems of the saints are
often omitted.
[Illustration: THE "NEVIL" ALTAR FRONTAL.
(_S.K.M. Collection._)]
This decline in the embroiderer's art is specially noticeable in an
extraordinary panel to be seen at South Kensington Museum, where an
altar-frontal of stamped crimson velvet is appliqued in groups of
figures in gold, silver, and silks. In the middle is the Crucifixion,
with the Virgin and St. John standing on a strip covered with flowers.
On the left is Ralph Nevil, fourth Earl of Westmoreland, 1523, kneeling,
and behind him his seven sons. On the right is Lady Catherine Stafford,
his wife, also kneeling, and behind her kneel her thirteen daughters.
The frontal cost the museum £50 and is well worth it as an historical
document. Other important embroideries of the period to be found in
England are at Cirencester Cathedral, Ely Cathedral, Salisbury and
Carlisle Cathedrals, Chipping Norton and Little Dean in Gloucestershire,
East Langdon in Kent, Buckland and Stourton in Worcester, Littleworth in
Leicestershire, Lynn in Norfolk, and the Parish Church at Warrington.
Many of the palls belonging to the great city companies belong to this
date. The Saddlers' Company's pall is of crimson velvet embroidered with
angels surrounding "I.H.S.," and arms of the Company. The Fishmongers'
Pall, made at the end of the fifteenth century, has at one end the
figure of St. Peter (the patron saint of fishermen) enthroned, and
angels on either side, and at the other end St. Peter receiving the keys
from our Lord. The Vintners' Pall is made of Italian velvet and cloth of
gold and embroidered with St. Martin of Tours.
Religious influence characterised the embroideries of England
practically from the ninth to the sixteenth centuries. Practically all
needlework prior to 1600 is entirely ecclesiastical, and from its
limited range in choice of subjects barely does justice to the fine work
this period produced.
Dr. Rock says that "few persons of the present day have the faintest
idea of the labour, the money, the time, often bestowed on old
embroideries which had been designed by the hands of men and women each
in their own craft the best and ablest of the day."
We do not know the length of time these ancient vestments occupied in
the making, but twenty-six years is stated to be the period of making
the vestments for the Church of San Giovanni, in Florence. This is all
worked in close stitches similar to our English work.
_Ancient Church Vestments._
The names of the ecclesiastical vestments are somewhat puzzling to those
of us who do not belong to the Romish Church, or even to the English
High Church. The vestments described are, we believe, in use in the
Romish churches now as in the early times when church embroidery was the
pleasure and the labour of all classes of English women. The
accompanying diagram will better illustrate the use of these vestments
than a page of writing.
[Illustration: ECCLESIASTICAL VESTMENTS.
1. Amice.
2. Orphreys.
3. Chasuble.
4. Sleeves of Alb.
5 and 9. Apparel of Alb.
6. Maniple.
7. Stole.
8. Alb.
_From "A Guide to Ecclesiastical Law," by kind permission of Mr. Henry
Miller._]
* * * * *
The Alb is often trimmed handsomely with lace, the apparels are stitched
on to the front. The Stoles ought to have three crosses embroidered on
it and be 3 yards long. Over this comes the Chasuble, which is the
last garment the priest puts on before celebrating Mass. The Cope is a
huge semi-circular 10 ft. wide cape. The Maniple is a strip of
embroidery 3 ft. 4 in. long worn over the left wrist of the priest.
[Illustration: ECCLESIASTICAL VESTMENTS.
English, Fifteenth or early Sixteenth Century.
(_S.K.M. Collection._)]
IV
TUDOR EMBROIDERY
IV
TUDOR EMBROIDERY
The influences of the Reformation--Queen Catherine of Aragon's
needlecraft--The gorgeous clothes of Henry VIII.--Field of the
Cloth of Gold--Queen Elizabeth's embroideries.
After the Reformation and the wholesale destruction of the cathedrals,
monasteries, and churches, the gentle dames of England found their
occupation gone. The priestly vestments, the sumptuous altar-cloths, and
gorgeous hangings were now needless. Those which had been the glory of
their owners, and the pictorial representations of Biblical life to the
uneducated masses of people, had been ruthlessly torn down and destroyed
for the sake of the gold to be found on them. As in the time immediately
preceding the French Revolution, costly embroideries were unpicked, and
the amount of gold and silver obtained from them became a source of
income and profit to their destroyers.
Apart from her household, women had no other interests in those days,
unless we accept such anomalies as Lady Jane Grey, who was a marvel of
learning and wisdom. All their long leisure hours had been spent, not in
improving their minds, but in beautifying the churches with specimens of
their skill. Catherine of Aragon, one of the unfortunate queens of Henry
VIII., was a notable needlewoman, and spent much of her short, unhappy
time as Queen of England in embroidery. The lace-making of Northampton
is said to have been commenced by her during her period of retirement
after her divorce. The "Spanish stitch," which was known and used in
embroidery of that period, was introduced by her from her own country,
and many examples of her skill in embroidery are to be seen in the
British Museum and the various homes belonging to our old nobility.
During the reign of Henry VIII. dress became very sumptuous, as the
contemporary pictures of the times show. Indeed, all the fervour and
feeling which ladies had worked in religious vestments now seemed to
find refuge in the over-elaboration of personal wear. Very little lace
was used, and that of only a primitive description, so that effect was
produced by embroidery in gold and silver threads and the use of pearls
and precious stones. The dress of the nobles in the time of Henry VIII.
was especially gorgeous, the coats being thickly padded and quilted with
gold bullion thread, costly jewels afterwards being sewn in the
lozenges. It is related that after his successful divorce King Henry
gave a banquet to celebrate his marriage to Anne Boleyn, and wore a coat
covered with the jewelled letters "H," and in the height of his
satisfaction allowed the ladies to cut or tear away the jewels as
souvenirs of his triumph over Wolsey and Catherine. It is said that he
was left in his underwear, so great was the competition for these
favours! Robes made of gold tissue, then called Cloth of Gold, were
used, and in Henry's meeting with Francis I. the English and French
armies vied with each other as to which should present a greater
magnificence. The name "the Field of the Cloth of Gold" remains as a
guarantee of its splendour.
Under the more austere and religious rule of Queen Mary we might suppose
that ecclesiastical embroidery would have somewhat regained a foothold.
But the landmarks had been entirely swept away, and we have little to
record of the reign, except that Mary herself was a clever needlewoman
and worked much of her heartache, at the neglect of her Spanish husband,
into her needlework. Her jealousy of her sister Elizabeth caused the
latter to spend her life away from the pomps and ceremonies of the
Court, and she has left many records of her handiwork, some well
authenticated, as, for example, the two exquisite book-covers in the
British Museum. Queen Elizabeth cannot, however, be said to have been in
any way a patroness of the art of needlecraft. Her talent seems rather
to have been devoted to affairs of State--and her wardrobe! On her
death, at seventy years of age, she left over one thousand dresses, most
of which must have been a cruel weight, so overburdened were they with
stiff bullion and trimmed with large pearls and jewels. Her dresses were
literally diapered with gold and silver "gimps" inset with heavier
stones, but little real embroidery is shown.
Mary Queen of Scots, on the contrary, was a born needlewoman. During her
married life in France she learned the gentle arts of embroidery and
lace-making, accomplishments which, as in many humbler women's lives,
have served their owners in good stead in times of loneliness and
trouble. The Duke of Devonshire possesses specimens of Queen Mary's
skill, worked during the long, dreary days of her imprisonment at
Fotheringay. It is said that Queen Elizabeth was not above helping
herself to the wardrobe and laces that the unfortunate Queen of Scotland
brought with her from France.
Much embroidery must have been worked for the adornment of the house
after the Reformation, but beyond an occasional old inventory nothing is
left to show it. After the Reformation greater luxury in living
obtained, and instead of the clean or rush-strewn floors some kind of
floor-covering was used. Furniture became much more ornamental, and the
use of hangings for domestic purposes was common. Not a thread of these
hand-worked hangings remain, but we have the immense and immediate use
of tapestry, which first became a manufacture of England in the reign of
Henry VIII. It is easy to conceive that English women would readily
seize upon the idea supplied in tapestry and adapt its designs to that
of embroidery. It is certain that hangings for the old four-post beds
were embroidered, as in the inventory of Wolsey's great palace at
Hampton Court there is mention of 230 bed-hangings of English
embroidery. Nothing of this remains, so that its style is simply
conjectural; and we can only suppose these hangings to have been
replicas of the magnificent velvet and satin hangings, covered with laid
or couched gold and silver threads, such as Catherine of Aragon would
bring with her from Spain. This also would account for their absolute
disappearance. The value of the gold and silver in embroidery has always
been a fertile source of wealth to the destroyer of ancient fabrics,
while many embroideries worked only in silks have escaped this
vandalism.
V
EARLY NEEDLEWORK PICTURES AND ACCESSORIES
[Illustration: EARLY "PETIT POINT" PICTURE.
Late Sixteenth Century.
(_S.K.M. Collection._)]
V
EARLY NEEDLEWORK PICTURES AND ACCESSORIES
"Petit point"--old list of stitches--Stuart
bags--Gloves--Shoes--Caps.
Towards the end of James I.'s reign it is supposed that the earliest
needlework pictures appeared. They were obviously literal copies of the
tapestries which had now become of general use in the homes of the
wealthy, being worked in what is known as "petit point," or "little
stitch." This stitch was worked on canvas of very close quality, with
fine silk thread, one stitch only being taken over the junction of the
warp and the weft of the canvas instead of the "cross stitch" of later
days. Very few of these specimens are left of an early date. A panel,
measuring 30 inches by 16 inches, in perfect condition, and dated 1601,
was sold at Christie's Rooms this year for £115. The purchaser, Mr.
Stoner, of King Street, sold it next day at a very considerable profit.
At this period the workers of these pictures did not draw upon Biblical
subjects for their inspiration (with great advantage to the picture, it
may be stated). The subjects were either fanciful adaptations from real
life, with the little people dressed in contemporary costume, or dainty
little mythological subjects, such as the "Judgment of Paris," "Corydon
wooing Phyllis," with most absurd little castles of Tudor construction
in impossible landscapes, where the limpid stream meandered down
fairy-like hills into a shining lake, which held dolphins under the
water and water-fowl above it. The illustration depicts such a specimen,
and shows one of these tiny pictures worked in no less than ten
different stitches of lacework, in addition to the usual petit point.
The number of these stitches is legion. In the reign of Charles I., John
Taylor, the water-poet, wrote in 1640:
"For tent worke, raised worke, first worke, laid worke, net worke,
Most curious purl, or rare Italian cut worke,
Fire, ferne stitch, finny stitch, new stitch, chain stitch,
Brave bred stitch, fisher stitch, Irish stitch, and Queen stitch,
The Spanish stitch, Rosemary stitch, and mowle stitch,
The smarting whip stitch, back stitch, and cross stitch;
All these are good, and this we must allow,
And they are everywhere in practice now."
[Illustration: VERY EARLY "PETIT POINT" PICTURE.
(_Author's Collection._)]
These are not _all_ the stitches in vogue during the first era of
needlework pictures. A single glance at one of the early specimens,
though it may not _charm_, fills one with amazement at the amount of
toil, ingenuity, patience, and downright _love_ for the work the ancient
needlewoman must have possessed. Not only pictures, however, were
made in petit point. Many dainty little accessories of the toilet gave
scope to the delicate fancy and nimble fingers of the ladies who had
found solace from the cessation of their labours for the priesthood in
making dainty little handbags and other pretty articles, each a marvel
of minute handicraft. One bag in my possession measures only four inches
square, and is worked on fine canvas, about forty threads to the square
inch, the design being the favourite Tudor rose, each petal worked in
lace stitch, and raised from the centre which is made of knots worked
with golden hair, flat green leaves exquisitely shaded, and a charming
bit of the worker's skill in the shape of a pea's pod, open and raised,
showing the tiny little peas in a row. An exquisitely worked butterfly
with raised wings in lace stitch is on the other side. The grounding of
the whole is run with flat gold thread, making a "cloth of gold" ground,
strings made of similarly worked canvas, with gold thread and silk
tassels complete a bag fit for the Princess Golden Locks of our fairy
tales. This little bag cost the writer 5 guineas, and was cheap at the
price. The South Kensington Museum have several specimens, and although
many are very exquisite, there is not one quite so perfect in design nor
in such condition. Other little trifles made in similar style are the
embroidered gauntlets of the buff leather glove worn at the time. These
have become rarer than any other embroideries, as they were not merely
for ornament but for actual wear. Four or five of these gauntlet gloves
are in the South Kensington Collection, but are of a later date than
the "petit point" period.
The use of gloves in England was not very general, we may infer, in the
earlier ages of embroidery. There are certain evidences, however,
showing that the glove was part of the priestly outfit, remains of
gloves having been found on the bones of Thomas à Becket when they were
transferred from the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral to the special shrine
prepared for them; and a crimson leather pair, bearing the sacred
monogram in embroidered gold, are preserved in the New College, Oxford,
belonging to the founder, William of Wykeham, who opened the college in
1386.
It was not until the fourteenth century that the wearing of gloves
became general, and practically nothing remains to show what manner of
hand-covering was worn until the Tudor period. Henry VIII. was
exceptionally lavish and extravagant in the use of handsomely
embroidered gloves, and few of his portraits show him without a
sumptuous glove in one hand. He had gloves for all functions--like a
modern fashionable woman. A pair of hawking gloves belonging to him are
in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and in South Kensington is one of a
pair presented by Henry to his friend and Councillor Sir Anthony Denny.
It is of buff, thin leather, with a white satin gauntlet, embroidered
with blue and red silk in applique work, decorated with seed-pearls and
spangles, and trimmed with gold lace. The Tudor rose, the crown, and the
lion are worked amidst a splendour of gold and pearls.
[Illustration: A STUART GLOVE.
(_S.K.M. Collection._)]
Queen Elizabeth must have inherited her love for gorgeous apparel along
with her strong personality and masterful spirit, as her expenditure for
gloves alone was proverbial. The favourite offering to her was a pair of
gloves, but she was not above accepting shoes, handkerchiefs, laces, and
even gowns from her faithful and admiring subjects. On her visit to
Oxford in 1578 she was presented by the Chancellor of the University
with a pair of perfumed gloves, embroidered with gold and set with
jewels, which cost the University sixty shillings, an immense sum in
those days. Other historic gloves are in the various museums of the
country, seldom or never coming into the open market. In the
Braikenridge Collection sold at Christie's in February of this year I
was able to secure one for £2 12s. 6d., immediately afterwards being
offered double the price for it.
The gloves belonging to Charles I. and Queen Henrietta Maria were very
ornamental, and it is said that even Oliver Cromwell, with all his
austerity, was not proof against the fascination of the decorated glove.
With Charles II. the embroidered gloves seem to have vanished along with
the stumpwork pictures, of which more anon.
Dainty shoes were embroidered in those old times. These, being articles
of wear, like the gloves, are very rare. The same fine petit point work
is seen on them; seed-pearls and in-run gold threads adorn them, and
frequently the Tudor rose, in raised work, forms the shoe knot. Two
pairs in Lady Wolseley's Collection, sold in 1906, fetched six guineas,
and nine and a half guineas. Tiny pocket-books were covered with this
pretty work, and charming covers almost as fresh as when they were
worked are occasionally unearthed, made to hold the old-fashioned
housekeeping and cooking books.
One wonders oftentime how many, and yet, alas! how few, specimens of
this old petit point work have been preserved. It is only during recent
years that the "cult of the antique" has been fashionable, and is also
becoming a source of income and profit to the many who indulge in its
quest. Only members of learned antiquarian societies or born reliquaries
troubled themselves to acquire ancient articles of historic interest
because they were _old_, and served to form the sequence in the fairy
tales of Time. Anything "old" was ruthlessly destroyed, as being either
past wear, shabby, or old-fashioned, and countless treasures, both in
ecclesiastical and secular art, have at all periods been recklessly
destroyed for the sake of their intrinsic value in gold or jewels. In
the early days of my life I was allowed to pick out the corals and
seed-pearls from an old Stuart needle picture "for a doll's necklace!"
the picture itself probably going into the "rag-bag" of the
mid-Victorian good housekeeper.
VI
STUART CASKETS AND MIRRORS
VI
STUART CASKETS AND MIRRORS
Secret drawers and hidden receptacles--High prices in the
Salerooms.
Among the many treasures of this exquisite period of needlecraft are the
well-known Stuart caskets. Very interesting and valuable are these
charming boxes, many of them being in a fine state of preservation,
owing to their having been enclosed in either a wooden or leathern box
specially made to contain them. These queer little boxes are frequently
made in the shape of Noah's ark. The lid being raised, a fitted mirror
is disclosed. The mirror slides out, and a secret recess may be
discovered to hold letters. The front falls down, disclosing any number
of tiny drawers, each drawer being silk-lined and the front of it
embroidered. Here, again, we may look for secret drawers. Very seldom
does the drawer run to the width of the cabinet, but by removing every
drawer and carefully searching for springs or slides many a tiny recess
is disclosed, where costly jewels, and perhaps a love-gage, has reposed
safely from the sight of unworthy eyes.
Every square inch of these caskets is covered with embroidery, sometimes
in canvas, worked with the usual scriptural or mythological design, and
in others with white satin, exquisitely embroidered with figures and
floral subjects. Those in best preservation have been covered with mica,
which has preserved both the colour and the fabric. The fittings are
generally of silver. On the few occasions when these boxes or caskets
come into the market high prices are realised. Messrs. Christie last
year obtained £40 for a good specimen. I have never seen one sold under
£30, and as much as £100 has been given.
Another pretty fancy was to cover small trays, presumably for the work
or dressing table, with embroidery. Not many of these remain, the wear
of removing them from place to place having been too much for their
staying powers. One in my possession is a small hexagonal tray with
raised sides, embroidered in coloured silks in floral design, on what
was once white satin. It is by no means a thing of beauty now, but as a
specimen it is interesting, and "a poor thing, but mine own," which
covers a multitude of shortcomings in these old relics, fortunately.
[Illustration: "STUART" MIRROR FRAME.
(_Lady Wolseley's Collection._)]
Far more frequently met with, though quite prohibitive in price, are the
Stuart embroidered mirrors, which easily command £80 to £100 in the
salerooms. They are generally set in a frame of oak, leaving five or six
inches (which would otherwise be covered with carving or veneer) for
the embroidery. The mirror itself is comparatively small, being only
a secondary consideration, and often little remains of it for its
original purpose, as the glass is blurred and the silvering gone. Many
of these mirrors have _bevelled_ glass, which, of course, is wrong.