Napkin
1800-1876 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
At the end of the 18th century embroidery designs began to develop into rigid and heavily stylised borders for towels and napkins. The colours of 18th and 19th century embroideries were originally very bright but many have faded to pleasing pastel shades; often great quantities of metal thread were used. Napkins were mainly used to clean fingers during meals, but were also used as decoration and as covers. Their designs were consistently inventive.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Linen, embroidered with silk in double darning on the diagonal and double running in a line, and with metal thread in double darning on the diagonal and fishbone stitch |
| Brief description | Towel or napkin, embroidered, Turkish, 1800s. |
| Physical description | Towel/Napkin of linen embroidered with silk in double darning on the diagonal and double running in a line with metal thread in double darning on the diagonal and fishbone stitch. There are 11 silk ends per selvedge. Along each end is a narrow band of blocks worked in pink and green silk and metal thread. Above this are three large bowls stacked with smaller bowls filld with pink and light pink and interspersed with green leaves. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Style | |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | At the end of the 18th century embroidery designs began to develop into rigid and heavily stylised borders for towels and napkins. The colours of 18th and 19th century embroideries were originally very bright but many have faded to pleasing pastel shades; often great quantities of metal thread were used. Napkins were mainly used to clean fingers during meals, but were also used as decoration and as covers. Their designs were consistently inventive. |
| Bibliographic reference | Illustrated in 'Ottoman Embroidery' by Marianne Ellis and Jennifer Wearden (V&A Publications, 2001); plate 134 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 480-1877 |
About this object record
Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
| Record created | June 24, 1999 |
| Record URL |
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest
