Panel
ca. 1892 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This is a panel of Leek Embroidery in silk worked by Frances Mary Templeton in 1892. The Leek Embroidery Society was founded by Elizabeth Wardle (1834-1902), wife of Thomas Wardle, the silk dyer and printer of Leek in Staffordshire. The style was formed to take advantage of the skills of local embroiderers and was adopted throughout Britain.
This example was said to have been embroidered by Frances Mary Templeton from Helensburgh in Scotland whose brother-in-law owned the firm of Anderson & Robertson. This firm produced the silk used by Thomas Wardle for his printed silks and for the ground of Leek embroidery.
Leek embroidery (as it became known) involved embroidering over the top of printed textiles produced in the Wardle factory. The style demanded a high standard of workmanship and a clever interpretation of the complex designs. The style is characterised by the use of toning coloured silks highlighted with Japanese gold threads.
This example is worked in satin and stem stitches, with laid and couched thread. The pattern of this embroidery shows the influence of early 18th-century printed chintzes of the type made in South India on the Coromandel coast. It is also similar to embroideries worked in India during the second half of the 19th century for the western market. These became very popular in England and were sold through fashionable shops such as Liberty's.
This example was said to have been embroidered by Frances Mary Templeton from Helensburgh in Scotland whose brother-in-law owned the firm of Anderson & Robertson. This firm produced the silk used by Thomas Wardle for his printed silks and for the ground of Leek embroidery.
Leek embroidery (as it became known) involved embroidering over the top of printed textiles produced in the Wardle factory. The style demanded a high standard of workmanship and a clever interpretation of the complex designs. The style is characterised by the use of toning coloured silks highlighted with Japanese gold threads.
This example is worked in satin and stem stitches, with laid and couched thread. The pattern of this embroidery shows the influence of early 18th-century printed chintzes of the type made in South India on the Coromandel coast. It is also similar to embroideries worked in India during the second half of the 19th century for the western market. These became very popular in England and were sold through fashionable shops such as Liberty's.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Embroidered silk with coloured silk and gold threads |
| Brief description | Textile panel of embroidered silk, designed and supplied as a kit by the Leek Embroidery Society using fabric produced by Sir Thomas and Arthur Wardle Ltd. Embroidered by Frances Mary Templeton, Britain, ca. 1892 |
| Physical description | Textile panel of embroidered silk. With cool earth tones and gold highlights. This embroidered panel containing fantastic flowers is worked on a cream tussar silk ground with coloured silks highlighted with Japanese gold threads. The embroidery is carried out in satin and stem stitches, with laid and couched thread. The colours are green, blue, yellow, tan, white, brown-red and pink. |
| Dimensions |
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| Gallery label | British Galleries:
LEEK EMBROIDERY' and its Indian source 'Leek embroidery' was a technique of embroidering over ready-printed panels manufactured at Leek in Staffordshire. Skilled embroiderers with a good sense of design could create highly original embroideries that were far from straight copies of the printed ground. This design draws on a variety of styles but its chief models must have been printed chintzes made in southern India a century earlier, like the one shown here.(27/03/2003) |
| Credit line | Given by Miss A. T. Anderson |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | This is a panel of Leek Embroidery in silk worked by Frances Mary Templeton in 1892. The Leek Embroidery Society was founded by Elizabeth Wardle (1834-1902), wife of Thomas Wardle, the silk dyer and printer of Leek in Staffordshire. The style was formed to take advantage of the skills of local embroiderers and was adopted throughout Britain. This example was said to have been embroidered by Frances Mary Templeton from Helensburgh in Scotland whose brother-in-law owned the firm of Anderson & Robertson. This firm produced the silk used by Thomas Wardle for his printed silks and for the ground of Leek embroidery. Leek embroidery (as it became known) involved embroidering over the top of printed textiles produced in the Wardle factory. The style demanded a high standard of workmanship and a clever interpretation of the complex designs. The style is characterised by the use of toning coloured silks highlighted with Japanese gold threads. This example is worked in satin and stem stitches, with laid and couched thread. The pattern of this embroidery shows the influence of early 18th-century printed chintzes of the type made in South India on the Coromandel coast. It is also similar to embroideries worked in India during the second half of the 19th century for the western market. These became very popular in England and were sold through fashionable shops such as Liberty's. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.38-1953 |
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| Record created | December 15, 1999 |
| Record URL |
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