Viscountess Wolseley and sold by her, among other Stuart needlework
specimens, at Messrs. Puttick & Simpson's in 1906. This mirror sold for
£100. The figures represent Charles I. and Queen Henrietta Maria, one on
either side of the mirror. The figure at the top of the frame is
difficult to understand; whether she is an angel or a mere Court lady
must be left to conjecture. The rolling clouds and the blazing sun are
above her head, and a peacock, with tail displayed, is on one side and a
happy-looking stag on the other. Two royal residences adorn the topmost
panels on either side, with all their bravery of flying flags and
smoking chimneys, and the lion and the leopard occupy the lower panels.
The latter animal identifies the King and Queen, who might otherwise be
Charles II. and his consort, as after Charles I.'s time the leopard gave
place to the unicorn for some unexplained reason. Other typical little
Stuart animals and birds fill in the extra panels, such as the spotted
dog who chases a little hare who is never caught, and the gaily-coloured
parroquet and kingfisher, which no respectable Stuart picture would be
without. The caterpillar, the ladybird, and the snail are all _en
evidence_; and below is a real pond, covered with talc, and containing
fish and ducks, the banks being made of tiny branching coral beads and
tufted silk and bullion work.
About this time, when Venetian lace came into fashionable use as an
adjunct to the exquisite Stuart dress, tiny coloured beads were imported
from Venice. The embroiderers at once seized upon them as a new and
possibly more lasting means of showing their pretty fancies in design.
Many delightful specimens of these beadwork pictures are preserved, the
colours, of course, being as fresh as yesterday. The ground was always
of white satin, now faded and discoloured with age, and often torn with
the heaviness of the beadwork design. They are scarcely so charming as
the all needlework pictures, but still are delightful and covetable
articles. The exigencies of the beadwork, however, lends a certain
stiffness and ungainliness to the figures.
VII
EMBROIDERED BOOKS AND "BLACK WORK"
[Illustration: "STUART" BOOK COVER.
(_British Museum._)]
VII
EMBROIDERED BOOKS AND "BLACK WORK"
Style and symbolism--Specimen in British Museum and Bodleian
Libraries--"Black work"
Among the many dainty examples of Tudor and Stuart needlework are to be
found the exquisitely embroidered book-covers which date from Queen
Elizabeth's girlhood until the time of Charles II. They were always of
diminutive size, and many stitches diversify their covering; oftentimes
they were liberally embroidered with seed-pearls, and in these instances
most frequently this fashion has been their salvation. A book somehow
always seems to be a more sacred thing than a picture, and the costly
little volumes which remain to show this dainty handicraft have
apparently always been used either for Church or private devotional
purposes.
The designs of the book-covers almost always follow certain styles.
These are either heraldic, scriptural, symbolical, floral, or arabesque.
The first-named variety usually belonged to royalty or one of the many
noble houses whose ladies busied themselves with fair needlework. The
shield, containing the coat of arms of the family, occupied the centre
of the book-cover, being formed in raised gold and silver guipure or
cord, and on the reverse the worker's initials frequently appear, with a
pretty border in gold and silver, to outline the edges.
The scriptural book-covers are always worked on canvas in fine petit
point stitches. One in South Kensington Museum is larger than most of
these volumes, and has on one side Solomon in all his glory and on the
reverse Jacob and his ladder and King David. These canvas-covered books
appear to have suffered most from the wear and tear of time, and very
few remain.
The symbolical covers are few, and mostly uninteresting. They are worked
as a rule on silk and satin in loose satin stitches, which have suffered
much from friction. The sacred monogram is often the centre of the
device. A favourite design was adorning the back of the books with
portraits of the martyred King Charles I., Queen Henrietta Maria, and
the popular Duke of Buckingham.
[Illustration: POCKET-BOOK OF SATIN, EMBROIDERED WITH COLOURED SILKS AND
SILVER-GILT THREAD.
Said to have been the property of Queen Elizabeth.
(_In Countess Brownlow's Collection._)]
The stitches used were generally chain-stitch, split-stitch, petit
point, and lace-stitch; and the patterns were most frequently outlined
with a gimp made of flattened spiral wire, or _purl_, which was a fine
copper wire covered with coloured silks and cut in lengths for use. Very
often, also, small silver spangles were employed, either stitched down
with a piece of purl or a seed-pearl. Frequently the covers were of
velvet with the designs appliquéd down to it, and _laid_ or _couch_ work
outlined the designs. Sometimes flat pieces of metal were cut to shape
and stitched down, as in one instance where the corners of the books
were trimmed with the rays of the sun cut in gold, and stitched over
with a gold thread.
Many of the charming little bags of which mention has already been made
are supposed to have been worked to hold the Prayer Book and Book of
Psalms, without which no devout lady deemed herself fully equipped.
The most famous book is Queen Elizabeth's Book in the British Museum.
The cover is of choice green velvet, the flat of the back has five roses
embroidered in lace, raised stitches and gold and pearl. The Royal Arms
are on either side of the book in a lozenge of red silk and pearls. The
whole design, apart from this, is worked in red and white roses and
scrolls of gold and silk. This gorgeous little cover contains "The
Mirrour of Glasse of the Synneful Soul," written by Elizabeth herself,
and of it she writes that she "translated it out of french ryme into
english prose, joyning the sentences together as well as the capacities
of my symple witte and small lerning could extende themselves." It is
dedicated "To our most noble and virtuous Queen Katherine [Katherine
Parr] from Assherige, the last day of the year of our Lord God, 1544."
In the Bodleian Library there is another treasured little book, again
worked by Queen Elizabeth. It is only 7 inches by 5 inches, and has the
same design on both sides. In this the ground is what is known as
"tapestry stitch," worked in thick, pale-blue silk, and the design is of
interlacing gold and silver threads with a Tudor rose in each corner.
"K. P." is marked on the cover, and shows that this also was worked for
Queen Katherine Parr.
Yet another little book is in the British Museum. It contains a prayer
composed by Queen Katherine Parr, and is written on vellum by Queen
Elizabeth.
The cover illustrated is a typical example of the class of embroidered
works of the period. Later the covers showed less intricate work, and
finally developed into mere velvet covers embroidered with silver or
gold.
[Illustration: STUART EMBROIDERED CAP. (_S.K.M. Collection._)]
BLACK WORK.
A curious phase of Old English embroidery is the well-known "Black
Work," which is said to have been introduced by Catherine of Aragon into
England, and was also known as "Spanish work." The work itself was a
marvel of neatness, precision, and elegant design, but the result cannot
be said to have been commensurate with the labour of its production.
Most frequently the design was of scroll-work, worked with a fine black
silk back-stitching or chain-stitch. Round and round the stitches go,
following each other closely. Bunches of grapes are frequently worked
solidly, and even the popular peascod is worked in outline stitch, and
often the petit point period lace stitches are copied, and roses and
birds worked separately and after stitched to the design. There are many
examples of this famous "Spanish" work in the South Kensington
Museum. Quilts, hangings, coats, caps, jackets, smocks are all to be
seen, some with a couched thread of gold and silver following the lines
of the scrolls. This is said to be the Spanish stitch referred to in the
old list of stitches, and very likely may be so, as the style and manner
are certainly not English; and we know that Catherine of Aragon brought
wonders of Spanish stitchery with her, and she herself was devoted to
the use of the needle. The story of how when called before Cardinal
Wolsey and Campeggio, to answer to King Henry's accusations, she had a
skein of embroidery silk round her neck is well known.
The black silk outline stitchery or linen lasted well through the late
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Very little of it is seen outside
the museums, as, not being strikingly beautiful or attractive, it has
been destroyed.
Another phase of the same stitchery was working cotton and linen
garments, hangings, and quilts in a kind of quilted pattern with yellow
silk.
Anything more unlike the quilting of fifty years ago cannot be imagined.
The finest materials were used, the padding being placed bit by bit in
its place--not in the wholesale fashion of later years, when a sheet or
two of wadding was placed between the sheets of cotton or linen, and a
coarse back-stitching outlined in great scrawling patterns held the
whole together. The old "quilting" work was made in tiny panels,
illustrating shields and other heraldic devices, and had a surface as
fine as carved ivory. When, as in the case of one sample at South
Kensington, the quilt is additionally embroidered with beautiful fine
floss silk flowers, the effect is very lovely.
VIII
STUART PICTURES
VIII
STUART PICTURES
"Petit point"--"Stump work"--Royalistic symbols.
Though these pictures bear the name of Stuart, many of them are
undoubtedly Tudor. The earliest (if the evidence of costume is of any
value) must have been worked in Elizabeth's time, but as the
authenticated specimens date only from the reign of James I. they are
known as Stuart. The only pictures worked in the early days of this art
were worked in petit-point, the tiny stitch which imitated tapestry, and
very quaint are the specimens left to us. The favourite themes were
entirely pagan. Gods and goddesses disported themselves among leafy
trees. Cupid lightly shot his arrows, the woods were inhabited by an
unknown flora and fauna which seem all its own. The very dogs seem to be
a different species, having more likeness to the china dogs of the
spotted or liver and white variety which the Staffordshire potters made
at the beginning of our own century. Innumerable little castles were
perched in perfectly inaccessible positions on towering crags, and the
laws of perspective were generally conspicuous by their absence. The sun
in those days was a very visible body, and apparently delightful to
work, no Stuart picture being without one; the rolling clouds oftentimes
are confused with the convoluted body of the caterpillar, little
difference being made in the design. The birds were of very brilliant
plumage, and the world was evidently a very gay and sportive place when
these fair ladies spent their leisure over this embroidery! These early
pictures seldom show the religious feeling that afterwards slowly worked
its way through the Stuart days (though, perhaps, disguised under
royalistic symbolism), until in the reign of Queen Anne it became more
or less a fashion, in pictorial needle-craft. It burst out afresh in the
early nineteenth century and became an absolute obsession of the early
Victorian Berlin-wool workers with most disastrous results to both
design and work.
Until the end of Charles I.'s reign needlework pictures must have been
scarce, as we find one enumerated in the inventory of his "Closet of
Rarities." It is possible that the many pictures which represent Charles
I. were worked by loyalist ladies, _after his execution_ and _during the
Commonwealth_. In many of these pictures his own hair is said to have
been used, thereby becoming relics of him who was known as "the Martyred
King." On a very finely worked portrait of Charles I., at South
Kensington Museum, King Charles's hair is worked amongst the silken
threads.
[Illustration: KING CHARLES I., WORKED IN FINE SILK EMBROIDERY.
(_S.K.M. Collection._)]
Throughout this time, no matter what the subjects, most of which were
notably striking scenes from Scripture history, such as "Esther and King
Ahasuerus," "Solomon and the Queen of Sheba," "The Judgment of Solomon"
(a very favourite subject), and other scenes of Old Testament history,
all the kings were Charles I. and all the Queens Henrietta Maria. One
and all wore early Stuart costumes. Even Pharaoh's daughter wore the
handsome dress of the day, with Point lace falling collar and real
pearls round her neck. It is a fashion to jeer at this anachronism; but
may it not perhaps be that we take these pictures too literally, and
deny the workers their feelings of passionate devotion to the lost
cause. Doubtless they worked their loyalty to their beloved monarch into
these pretty and pleasing fancies, just as it is said that the fashion
of "finger-bowls" was introduced later so that the loyal gentlemen of
the day might drink to the King "_over the water_." I see no cause to
deny intelligence to these dear dead women, who were capable of
exquisite needlecraft and fine design, and whose devotion was shown in
many instances by giving up jewels, houses, and lands for the King!
The fashion of "stump" or stamp work appears to have been derived from
Italy. Italian needlework of this time abounds with it, and, it must be
admitted, of a superior design, and style to that which was known here
as "stump" work. Until the eighteenth century English work was more or
less archaic in every branch. Personally, I see no more absurdity in the
queer doll-like figures than in contemporary wood-carving. It was a
period of tentative effort, and was, of course, beneath criticism.
English Art has ever been an effort until its one bright burst of genius
in the eighteenth century, while the continental nations appear to have
breathed artistic perception with life itself.
The prototype of our stump work pictures, the Italian raised work, are
gracious, graceful figures perfectly proportioned, and set in lovely
elegant arabesques, with no exaggeration of style or period. Some
specimens of this work must have been brought from Italy, through
France, and the English workers quickly adopted and adapted them to
their own heavier intelligence. Some of the little figures are certainly
very grotesque. Frequently the tiny little hands are larger than the
heads, but the _stitchery_ is exquisite.
No time seems to have been too long to have been spent in perfecting the
petals of a rose, the loose wing of a butterfly, or to make a realistic
curtain in fine Point lace stitches to hang from the King's canopy. Some
of the King's dresses are said to have been made of tiny treasured
pieces of his garments. There is no doubt that much devoted sentiment
was worked into these little figures, and these touches of nature add a
pathetic interest to them.
[Illustration: SUPERB EXAMPLE OF STUART PICTURE.
(_S.K.M. Collection._)]
In the illustration of "King Solomon receiving the Queen of Sheba" from
the South Kensington Collection Solomon is obviously King Charles I.,
while the Queen of Sheba is equally recognisable as Queen Henrietta
Maria. The picture is perhaps the finest in the Kensington Collection,
the colours being fresh and the work intact. The little faces are
worked over a padding of soft frayed silk or wool, the features being
drawn in fine back-stitch. Natural hair is worked on the King's and
Queen's heads, and the crowns are real gold thread set with pearls. The
canopy is worked _solidly_ in silk and gold thread, and from it hang
loose curtains in old brocade, worked over and over with gold and silken
thread.
The King's mantle and that of the Lord Chamberlain are worked in Point
lace stitches, afterwards applied to the bodies and hanging loosely. The
Queen's dress is brocade, worked over with gold and silver, while
strings of real pearls decorate the necks and wrists of the ladies, and
real white lace of the Venetian variety trims the neck and sleeves of
these fairy people. The Stuart castle we see perched up among the trees
and touching the sun's beams is more like an English farmhouse than
Whitehall. Yet either this or Windsor Castle is always supposed to be
represented.
The British lion and the leopard, again, make the identity of these
little people more certain. The quaint little trees bear most
disproportionate fruits, the acorn and pears being about the same size,
but all beautifully worked in Point-lace stitches over wooden moulds.
The hound and the hare, the butterfly and the grub, and the strange
birds make up one of the most typical Stuart pictures.
The next illustration shows another development of picture-making. Here
the grounding is of white satin, as in the previous illustration, but
the figures are worked on canvas separately, in fine petit-point
stitch, afterwards being cut away and placed on the white satin ground
with a few silk stitches and the whole outlined with a fine black silk
cord. The subject is "The Finding of Moses," and is as full of
anachronisms as the last, only that here again Pharaoh's daughter is
worked in memory of Queen Henrietta Maria, and the tiny boy in the
corner is Charles II., and Moses the infant Duke of York. The
four-winged cherubs are the guardian angels who are watching over the
lost fortunes of the Stuart family, and the rose of England and the lilies
of France which form the border are emblematical of the royal lineage of
their lost King's family. The hound and hare still chase each other
gaily round the border, and in the picture the hare is seen emerging,
like the Stuarts, from exile and obscurity.
Sufficient has perhaps been said to cause those who possibly may have
misunderstood these pictures to give them another glance, and allow
imagination to carry them back to the times of the exiled Royal Family
and their brave adherents, whose women allowed not their memories to
slumber nor their labours to flag. These pictures must have been made
during the Commonwealth and the reign of Charles II. In no case, to my
knowledge, has King Charles II. been depicted in stitchery, nor yet
Catherine of Braganza. James II. is equally ignored, and with him their
mission seemed to have been accomplished. Possibly the people had had by
this time sufficient of the Stuarts, and the memory of King Charles the
martyr had waxed dim. Certain it is that with James II. Stuart
needlework pictures suddenly ceased.
[Illustration: STUART PICTURE, SHOWING THE FINDING OF MOSES.
(_S.K.M. Collection._)]
_Stump work Symbols._
The symbolism of the various animals, birds, insects, and flowers which
are, apparently without rhyme or reason, placed in one great disarray in
the Stuart pictures is said to have been heraldic and symbolic. The
sunbeam coming from a cloud, the white falchion, and the chained hart
are heraldic devices belonging to Edward III.
The buck and the strawberry, which are so often seen, belong to the
Frazer Clan of Scotland, and may have been worked by ladies who were
kith and kin of this clan.
The unicorn was the device of James I. and the siren or mermaid of Lady
Frazer, who is said to have worked her own golden hair in the heart of a
Tudor rose on a book cover for James I.
The hart was also a device of Richard II. and the "broom pod" of the
Plantagenets. The caterpillar and butterfly were specially badges of
Charles I., while the oak-tree and acorn were invariably worked into
every picture in memory of Charles II.'s escape in an oak tree.
IX
SAMPLERS
IX
SAMPLERS
Real art work--Specimens in South Kensington Museum--High price
now obtained.
A "sampler" is an example or a sample of the worker's skill and
cleverness in design and stitching. When they first appeared, as far as
we know about the middle of the seventeenth century, they were merely a
collection of embroidery, lace, cut and drawn work stitches, and had
little affinity to the samplers of a later date, which seemed especially
ordained to show various patterns of cross stitches, the alphabet, and
the numerals.
The early samplers were real works of art; they were frequently over a
yard long, not more than a quarter of a yard wide, and were adorned with
as many as thirty different patterns of lace and cut and drawn work.
This extreme narrowness was to enable the sampler to be rolled on a
little ivory stick, like the Japanese _kakemonas_.
The foundation of all the early samplers was a coarse linen, and to this
fact we owe the preservation of many of them. Those made two hundred
years later, on a coarse, loose canvas, even now show signs of decay,
while these ancient ones on linen are as perfect as when made, only
being gently mellowed by Time to the colour of old ivory.
The earliest sampler known is dated 1643, and was worked by Elizabeth
Hinde. It is only 6 inches by 6-1/2 inches, and is entirely lacework,
and apparently has been intended for part of a sampler. The worker
perhaps changed her mind and considered rightfully that she had
accomplished her _chef d'oeuvre_, or as so often explains these
unfinished specimens, the Reaper gathered the flower, and only this
dainty piece of stitching was left to perpetuate the memory of Elizabeth
Hinde.
The sampler in question is just one row of cut and drawn work and
another of fine Venetian lacework, worked in "punto in aria." A lady in
Court dress holds a rose to shield herself from Cupid, a dear little
fellow with wings, who is shooting his dart at her heart. Perhaps poor
Elizabeth Hinde died of it and this is her "swan song."
[Illustration: A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY "SAMPLER" (ENGLISH), SHOWING CUT
AND DRAWN WORK.
(_S.K.M. Collection._)]
The earliest samplers appeared to have been worked only on white cotton
or silk. A favourite design, apart from the lacework samplers, was the
"damask pattern" sampler, a specimen of which may be noted, commencing
with the fifth row, on the sampler illustrated. Sometimes the sampler
was entirely composed of it, and although ineffective, remains as a
marvel of skill. It was worked entirely in flat satin stitch and eyelet
holes, known as the "bird's eye" pattern. In the illustration four rows
of cutwork will be noted, followed by five rows of drawn threadwork,
and above are patterns worked in floral and geometric designs in
coloured silks. The alphabet and the date 1643 complete this monument of
skill, which may be seen in the South Kensington Museum.
The succeeding illustration shows a more ambitious attempt, and is
considered one of the finest specimens known. It was worked by Elizabeth
Mackett, 1696. It is on white linen with ten rows of floral patterns
worked with coloured silks in cross, stem, and satin stitches, with some
portions worked separately and applied. Five rows of white satin stitch,
two rows of alphabet letters in coloured silks, and four rows of
exquisite punto in aria lace patterns are followed by the alphabet again
in white stitches and the maker's name and date. The sampler is in
superb preservation, the colours are particularly rich and well chosen.
This sampler is also from the South Kensington Collection. Often the
worker's name is followed by a verse or rhyme having a delightfully
prosaic tendency. One can imagine the poor girls, in the early days we
are writing of, writhing under the infliction of having slowly and
painstakingly to work the solemn injunction--
"When this you see remember me
And keep me in your mind,
And be not like a weathercock
That turns at every wind.
When I am dead and laid in grave,
And all my bones are rotten,
By this you may remember me
When I should be forgotten."
And we can appreciate how little Maggie Tulliver ("The Mill on the Floss")
must have girded at the philosophy she was compelled to work into her
sampler--