Panel

Object Type
Small furnishing panels such as this one were popular throughout the 17th century and were used to add colour and warmth to what could otherwise be rather bare rooms. Inventories from the early 17th century show that stools, benches and chairs were wooden, usually oak, and so thick textile panels that could be used for loose cushions or as fixed upholstery would have made the user more comfortable.

Materials & Making
The English were quick to adapt the technique of carpet-knotting, which they learned from the Turks, to their own local artistic traditions and needs. In a pile fabric, such as this panel, the foundation consists of two sets of threads, warp and weft, which interlace at right angles. The pile is created by tying a knot of coloured thread around two adjacent warp threads, building up the design row by row while the foundation is woven by the insertion of weft thread across the warp threads after each row of knots is completed. It requires only a small, simple loom and is easily done by hand. In this panel there are 1,024 knots per square decimetre.

Subjects Depicted
The flowers depicted within the architectural arches are those commonly found in English gardens of the period: marigolds, carnations, a grape-vine, pansies, roses and a strawberry plant.