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Panel
unknown - Enlarge image
Panel
- Place of origin:
England, Great Britain (made)
- Date:
1535-1555 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Linen, embroidered with silver-gilt and silk thread in split, brick and satin stitches, couched work and some raised work, applied to modern velvet
- Museum number:
36-1888
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 58b, case 1
Object Type
This piece of embroidery is a fragment of an altar frontal, a rectangular hanging covering the front of the altar.
Historical Associations
The altar frontal from which this fragment came may have been made for Lady Catherine Stafford, for use in the private chapel of the Neville family. It is associated with Lady Stafford partly because St Catherine was her patron saint. Furthermore, another altar frontal (Museum no. 35-1888), acquired at the same time and similar in style, shows the figures of Lady Catherine, her husband and their children. This suggests that the two embroideries may have come from the same original set of church furnishings.
Makers & Making
This embroidery was made in a workshop, probably in London. The sumptuous and dramatic effect has been achieved by applying a large-scale figure made of rich materials to a contrasting background material. The original background material has been replaced, but we can assume that it would have been brightly-coloured, quite possibly red velvet. Church furnishings made of rich and expensive materials were often cut up and the parts reused.
