Fragment of Embroidery
1160-1190 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This object is made up of two panels of embroidered plain-woven purple silk, cut down from a larger piece into two smaller panels and crudely joined with a blue wool thread along one edge. The original function of the precious textile is unknown, but it may have been a liturgical vestment. At a later stage, the piece was lined with plain-woven linen. The embroidery is worked in a fragmented circle and lozenge decorated with foliate crosses and scrollwork. At some later stage, the embroidery fragments were assembled into a seal bag, now opened to lie flat.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Plain-woven purple silk embroidered with silver-gilt thread in underside couching and stem stitch. |
| Brief description | Two panels of embroidered purple silk, English, 1160-1190 |
| Physical description | Two panels of embroidered plain-woven purple silk, cut down from a larger piece into two smaller panels and crudely joined with a blue wool thread along one edge. The other edge has similar stitches in blue and is bound with a linen braid. At a later stage, the piece was lined with plain-woven linen. The embroidery is worked in a fragmented circle and lozenge decorated with foliate crosses and scrollwork, a decorative scheme stylistically close to the embroidery on the vestments of St Thomas of Canterbury and Archbishop Hubert Walter (see King 1963). |
| Dimensions |
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| Object history | Given by the Revd. James Harvey Bloom in 1911. |
| Historical context | The original function of the precious textile is unknown, from which these two small pieces of gold-embroidered silk were cut for reuse. It may have been a vestment. At some later stage, the embroidery fragments were assembled into a seal bag, now opened to lie flat. |
| Summary | This object is made up of two panels of embroidered plain-woven purple silk, cut down from a larger piece into two smaller panels and crudely joined with a blue wool thread along one edge. The original function of the precious textile is unknown, but it may have been a liturgical vestment. At a later stage, the piece was lined with plain-woven linen. The embroidery is worked in a fragmented circle and lozenge decorated with foliate crosses and scrollwork. At some later stage, the embroidery fragments were assembled into a seal bag, now opened to lie flat. |
| Bibliographic reference | King, Donald. Opus Anglicanum: English Medieval Embroidery, exhibition catalogue, London, Victoria and Albert Museum (London, 1963), cat. no. 5.
King, Donald and Levey, Santina, The Victoria & Albert Museum's Textile Collection:Embroidery in Britian from 1200 to 1750, museum catalogue, London, Victoria and Albert Museum (London, 1993), 21.
Browne, Clare; Davies, Glyn; Michael, M.A., English Medieval Embroidery: Opus Anglicanum, exhibition catalogue, London, Victoria and Albert Museum (London, 2016), 117. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.60-1911 |
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| Record created | April 20, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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