English Embroideries Of The 16Th and 17Th Centuries

by Brooks, Mary M.

• ISBN13: 9781854441935
• ISBN10: 1854441930
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-02-01
• Publisher: Ashmolean Museum

Summary

This handbook explores the Ashmolean Museum's collection of English seventeenth-century embroideries. These intriguing pieces, often made by affluent school girls, include pictorial panels and an elaborate box showing bible stories as well as costume accessories and fanciful items such as a frog-shaped purse. The introductory essay explores how the miniature world of kings and queens, biblical and classical heroes, courtiers and shepherdesses, set in landscapes with lovingly depicted animals and flowers, connects with the turbulent events of the seventeenth century. Detailed photographs reveal the fine stitches and imaginative raised work embroidery techniques we well as the lavish use of metal threads and semi-precious stones. The book will appeal to all those interested in the life of seventeenth-century women as well as to textiles and embroidery specialists.

Author Biography

Mary M. Brooks is a senior lecturer at the University of Southampton.

Table of Contents

Chronology	4	(2)
Rulers	6	(1)
English Embroideries: Collectors, Makers and Sources	7	(19)
Catalogue entries	26	(64)
Stitches	90	(4)
Glossary	94	(1)
Other collections	95	(1)
Further reading	96