Secular representations

Secular representations

Mary Knowles, née Morris (1733-1807) was a Quaker, a gifted speaker and religious activist, especially in the struggle against slavery. She was also an accomplished craftswoman creating embroidered pictures. She was particularly known for a needlework representation of King George III, after a painting by Johan Zoffany (1733-1810), which he made in 1771.

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam houses a part of a wall covering made of cloth embroidered with a coronation scene of Louis XIV of France. The wall covering dates to the second half of the seventeenth century and may be based on the work of the French artist, Simon Vouet (1590-1649). The covering is made of a linen ground, with gold, silver and silk thread embroidery and fake gemstones.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses an embroidered picture of Napoleon Bonaparte, which was made by Mary Linwood (1755-1845) in 1825. The technique she used was needlepainting, whereby oil paintings and other representations were exactly copied with hand embroidery, against a painted background. The embroidery measures 78.3 x 71.2 cm and was carried out in crewel wool on a wool ground.

'The prophecy of Calchas' is the name given to a large hanging now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. It probably dates to the late sixteenth century, and was likely made in China (Macao?). It measures 375 x 498 cm and is made of a cotton ground material with silk and gilt paper wrapped embroidery thread (Japanese thread) and with painted decorations.

'Riding a Crane over a Beautiful Terrace' or ' Riding a Crane over Yaotai' is an embroidered picture based on a painting. It was worked during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) and used a plethora of different techniques, including consecutive stitch, darning, knot stitch, mixed straight stitch, net stitch, pine-needle stitch, random stitch, stem stitch, and couching.

'The sacrifice of Polyxena' is the name given to a large hanging now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. It probably dates to the late sixteenth century, and was likely made in China (Macao?). It measures 381 x 523 cm and is made of a cotton ground material with silk and gilt paper wrapped embroidery thread (Japanese thread) and with painted decorations.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses an early eighteenth century sampler from England with a representation of Queen Anne (r. 1702-1714). The linen sampler is worked with silk and metal threads, using chain stitch, cross stitch, satin stitch and split stitch. The sampler measures 31.8 x 22.8 cm. 

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art houses a hanging showing Shakyamuni Buddha and the eighteen arhats. It measures 105 x 75 cm and dates to the nineteenth century and derives from eastern Tibet. It is made of silk with silk thread embroidery.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses a remarkable example of blackwork, the use of which remains a moot point. It may have been a wall hanging, a cupboard cover or a table cover. It was made in England and dates to the late sixteenth century. It measures 114 x 98.3 cm. It is embroidered in black silk on a linen ground. There is also couched cord and a bobbin lace border.

The Sicilian Tristan quilt, also known as the Tristan and Isolde quilt or the Guicciardini quilt, is perhaps the oldest extant European quilt. It dates to the late fourteenth century, and was made in Sicily. It shows scenes from the story of Tristan and Isolde. 

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses an embroidered scroll painting from China, which dates to the third quarter of the nineteenth century. It is made of silk and embroidered with silk thread, and measures 160 x 43 cm. The embroidery shows a willow tree, kingfishers and swallows.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses a large hanging with a representation of the gardens of Stoke Edith, Herefordshire, England. The hanging was made in England between c. 1710 and 1720. The embroidered picture was worked on linen with silk and wool thread (mainly tent stitch), and applique (the Chinese porcelain pots with fruit trees, worked with chain stitch).

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses an embroidered picture illustrating 'Mary Queen of Scots mourning the dying Douglas at the Battle of Langside'. The embroidery is based on an oil painting by Charles Landseer (1799-1879). The battle was fought on 13th May 1568, and the defeat of Mary's loyal forces led her to flee from Scotland to England (and to her subsequent imprisonment by Elizabeth I).

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses an embroidered picture that shows a scene from the classical story of Tomyris, Queen of the Massagetae, namely the moment that she receives the head of Cyrus, the king of the Persians. The embroidery is worked on cream satin and carried out with various forms of metal thread and with many shades and colours of silk thread. There is also some shading with water colour.

The convent of Wienhausen (Germany) houses three embroideries that illustrate the medieval legend of Tristan and Iseuld (Isolde). The oldest of the three dates to c. AD 1300. It measures 2.33 x 4.04 cm. It is embroidered in wool on a linen ground material, using the kloster stitch.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses an (incomplete) appliqué wall hanging, popularly known as the Tristan hanging. It originates from North Germany and was made in the late fourteenth century.  It is 109 cm high and 256.5 cm long. It is a dark blue, woollen cloth with appliqués of woollen fragments. It contains 22 scenes from the medieval Tristan and Iseuld (Isolde) legend.

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam houses an embroidered picture (tableau) made in The Netherlands (Amsterdam?) by the textile atist Wynant Haelwegh (born 1617/16180) in 1650 (according to the embroidered text in the bottom right-hand corner). It measures 51 x 36.5 cm. The embroidery is worked in silk on a silk ground. It shows a large vase with a bouquet of flowers.

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, holds a strip of silk cloth embroidered with silk thread and providing a view of the town of Dordrecht. The textile measures 54.5 x 15.5 cm. Included in the embroidery are the coat of arms of Holland and the town of Dordrecht, and the text ANNO 1607. In the bottom right hand corner it says: DAMIS.V.BERNASIE (Damis van Bernasie).

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses an embroidered picture, the design of which was taken from an illustration in Aladdin, by Walter Crane (1845-1915). It is worked on linen with silk threads. It measures 79 x 65 cm. Aladdin, or, The Wonderful Lamp, was published in 1874 (Routledge, London). It is a children's story taken from Thousand and One Nights, with illustrations made by Walter Crane.

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