Napkin
1800-1899 (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 | Cotton, embroidered with silk in double darning, musabak and satin stitch, and with metal thread in slanted satin stitch |
| Brief description | Towel or napkin, embroidered, Turkish, 1800s. |
| Physical description | Towel/Napkin, cotton embroidered with silk in double darning, musabak and satin stitch, and with metal thread in slanted satin stitch. There is a narrow, delineated border with a floral meander with pink and blue flowers alternating. The main border contains three isolated floral sprigs in which a horizontal stem with green serrated leaves and a pink rose bud curves over and around a large pink blossom. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Credit line | Given by Mr Frank W. Taylor |
| 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 Publication, 2001); plate 119 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | CIRC.149-1929 |
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| Record created | February 2, 2001 |
| Record URL |
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