17th Century Embroidery on Silk Brocade
by Brenda Kean
Title
17th Century Embroidery on Silk Brocade
Artist
Brenda Kean
Medium
Photograph - Photographs
Description
Rare survivor of a piece of old gold coloured silk brocade fabric with a design of pagodas and chrysanthemum flowers on a joined piece of silk. Dating from before 1740 when silk was subject to high import taxes. Silk that was 18 inches wide was at a lower rate of tax and this embroidered panel is made of two 18 inch wide sections. This fabric was then embroidered with single silk thread stitches with the tree of life design featuring fashionable flowers including roses, tulips and carnations. It has been authentically dated by a leading embroidery museum to the Jacobean era,who said that some of the flower heads taken from older pieces and appliqued onto it were from the time of Elizabeth 1. I found this large fragment of embroidery at a craft market, black with centuries of dirt and when I carefully washed it the wonderful colours appeared. I am happy to share it with you now as I feel it deserves to be seen by others. The museum asked me to donate to them as it would be the best embroidery in their extensive collection, however I have not yet decided to do this as yet. No two flowers are the same and must have taken many months to complete
Uploaded
April 8th, 2014
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