Embroidered satin glove tab, England, 1610-1630

A white satin single round-ended tab from a glove gauntlet. Satin finely embroidered with silver and silver-gilt thread, strip, coil and purl and with floss silks in shades of red, pink, green, cream, blue, mauve and a little black: long and short, satin, stem and brick stitches with French knots, laid and couched and padded work: spangles in a floral and geometric pattern. The back of embroidery has been gummed; this and the quality of the work suggest that it is professional work. A formal, symmetrical strap-work structure supports a floral design: the flowers increase in size from the bottom upwards-borage, strawberry, cornflower, wheat-ears and a single rose.

Given by Miss Agnus A. Hepburn and Mrs Margaret Owen

A single tab from the gauntlet of an early 17th-century glove illustrates how the embroidery for this type of accessory was carried out. The silver-gilt threads are couched onto the satin – that is, laid on the surface and secured with stitches in very fine silk. The coloured silk threads are worked through the satin ground.

A range of popular flowers such as roses, borage and cornflower, with strawberries and ears of wheat are typical motifs in early 17th-century embroidery in Britain. These are arranged in a geometric setting outlined in the silver-gilt thread, a pattern characteristic of Renaissance strapwork.

T.29-1975