Casket
- Place of origin:
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
- Materials and Techniques:
Wood, embroidered silk in silk and metal threads, beaded, mica, marbled paper, lined with padded silk
- Credit Line:
Given by Mrs G. Atkinson and Mrs M. F. Davey
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
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The embroidery made to decorate this rectangular wooden casket (the top is shown here) was most likely to have been made by a young girl between the ages of 12 and 14. The casket would have been one of her last exercises in the art of embroidery, and she would put all her learnt skills into the piece. The lid panel is of white satin embroidered in coloured silks, metal purl and beads. The stitches used are mainly brick stitch, knots, detailed buttonhole fillings, couched, laid and raised work. The four sides of the casket are decorated with panels of laid work in geometricised designs of flowers and fruit, and the edges are covered with lacquer imitating tortoiseshell.
Physical description
Rectangular wooden casket decorated with panels of embroidery and laid work. The edges are covered with lacquer imitating tortoiseshell. On the lid a panel of white satin embroidered in coloured silks, metal purl and beads. Mainly in brick stitch, knots, detailed buttonhole fillings, couched, laid and raised work. In the centre, a lady in a red dress and blue stole sits, holding a basket of fruit and a tulip, between an acorn-tree with a squirrel and a green leafy tree. Below this scene is fish-pond. On the left hand side of the panel, from top to bottom, are a house with mica windows, a caterpillar, a gaily-coloured parrot in a cherry-tree, a unicorn and a tulip. On the right hand side are a castle with mica windows, a snail, a bird on a branch bearing leaves and fruit, a ladybird and a stag between two flowers. The four sides of the casket are decorated with panels of laid work in a geometrical design of flowers and fruit. The casket is lined with padded pink silk. Inside the lid is a mirror surrounded by a stuck-on design of narrow silver braid. Behind the mirror is a piece of marbled paper, and so also on the bottom of the box.
Place of Origin
Great Britain, UK (made)
Date
1660-1690 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Wood, embroidered silk in silk and metal threads, beaded, mica, marbled paper, lined with padded silk
Dimensions
Length: 35.6 cm, Width: 28.1 cm, Height: 16.4 cm
Descriptive line
Wooden casket with embroidered silk with silk and metal threads and beaded, Great Britain, 1660-1690
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
King, Donald (ed.), British Textile Design in the Victoria & Albert Museum (Tokyo, 1980), vol. I, colour plate 63.
Materials
Paper; Silk; Wood; Metal; Silk thread; Mica (mineral)
Techniques
Embroidering; Satin weave
Subjects depicted
Fish; Stag; Insect; Squirrel; Parrot; Unicorn; Snail
Categories
Containers; Woodwork; Textiles; Embroidery
Collection code
T&F
