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 and double running in a line |
| Brief description | Towel or napkin, embroidered, Turkish, 1800s. |
| Physical description | Towel/Napkin, cotton embroidered with silk in double darning and double running in a line. There is a narrow border with a floral meander in which green leaves alternate between red flowers and pink and yellow flowers. The main border consists of a repeated floral motif with a blue base, a pair of large green leaves, a large pansy-like flowers (either predominantly yellow or predominantly red), two sprigs of buds and two floral sprigs. One side has been cut and hemmed. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Subject 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 104 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | CIRC.196-1931 |
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| Record created | February 2, 2001 |
| Record URL |
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