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Bed cover
Magusdottir, Thorbjorg, born 1667 - died 1737 - Enlarge image
Bed cover
- Place of origin:
Iceland (made)
- Date:
ca. 1700 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Magusdottir, Thorbjorg, born 1667 - died 1737 (maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Wool, embroidered with wool
- Museum number:
8-1884
- Gallery location:
In Storage
William Morris recommended the acquisition of this cover by the Museum. It shows a traditional north European design based, he believed, on a 13th century design which showed 'the abiding influence of Byzantine Art in Iceland…'
The subject is religious; reading anti-clockwise from the top left the images represent: The Sacrifice of Isaac, Moses before Pharoah, Moses with the Tablets of the Law and Christ entering Jerusalem.
The inscriptions consist of three verses composed by the magistrate Páll Vídalín, husband of the noted Icelandic embroideress, Thorbjorg Magnusdottir (1667-1737) who made this bedcover. They were married in 1696 and according to the last two lines of the third verse the wife embroidered 'the words' according to her 'husband's instructions' indicating that at least part of the cover was worked after their marriage.
