Cushion Cover
ca. 1600 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
In the 17th century the majority of wooden chairs and stools were not upholstered, and in more prosperous homes, decorated cushions were widely used both for comfort and for the attractiveness of their appearance.
This cushion is embroidered with wild and garden flowers and plants, an exquisite example of the English taste for this sort of floral decoration. Illustrated botanical books were used frequently as design inspiration, and the flowers here are recognisable species, although their form has been stylised to fit the design of the embroidery. Each heart-shaped compartment has a different flower or plant, which include borage, cornflower, oak, rose, berry, pea, marigold, lily, honeysuckle, bluebell, columbine, heartsease, daffodil, currant and fern.
This cushion is embroidered with wild and garden flowers and plants, an exquisite example of the English taste for this sort of floral decoration. Illustrated botanical books were used frequently as design inspiration, and the flowers here are recognisable species, although their form has been stylised to fit the design of the embroidery. Each heart-shaped compartment has a different flower or plant, which include borage, cornflower, oak, rose, berry, pea, marigold, lily, honeysuckle, bluebell, columbine, heartsease, daffodil, currant and fern.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Silk satin embroidered with silk, metal thread and metal strip |
| Brief description | embroidered, about 1600, English; Metal threads and strip on red satin |
| Physical description | Silk satin embroidered with silk, metal thread and metal strip in satin stitch and couched work. Red satin back. Three tassels attached. Edged with silver-gilt bobbin lace, with some spangles attached. Design of three horizontal rows of a coiling stem pattern, forming inverted heart-shaped compartments alternately reversed; from the lower centre of each rises a symetrical floral sprig. Flowers and plants include borage, cornflower, oak, rose, berry, pea, marigold, lily, honeysuckle, bluebell, columbine, heartsease, daffodil, currant and fern. Some of the gilt outline threads, originally couched in black, have been resewn in green. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Unique |
| Gallery label |
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| Object history | Purchased from the Spanish Art Gallery, Conduit Street, London W1. Bought at Messrs Sotheby's sale (effects of General the Hon R Stuart Waverley, formerly the property of Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford), 9 February 1923, lot 8. The cover has a manuscript label sewn to its reverse : "Louisa Marchioness of Waterford, Cushion, 16th cent., history unknown". |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | In the 17th century the majority of wooden chairs and stools were not upholstered, and in more prosperous homes, decorated cushions were widely used both for comfort and for the attractiveness of their appearance. This cushion is embroidered with wild and garden flowers and plants, an exquisite example of the English taste for this sort of floral decoration. Illustrated botanical books were used frequently as design inspiration, and the flowers here are recognisable species, although their form has been stylised to fit the design of the embroidery. Each heart-shaped compartment has a different flower or plant, which include borage, cornflower, oak, rose, berry, pea, marigold, lily, honeysuckle, bluebell, columbine, heartsease, daffodil, currant and fern. |
| Bibliographic reference | John Lea Nevinson, Catalogue of English Domestic Embroidery of the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries, Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Textiles, London: HMSO, 1938, p.13 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.21-1923 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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