Panel
Object name
Date made
Circa 1700
Place made
Description
Circa 1700 embroidered panel showing a green bird perching atop a series of flowering stems on a hillock.
Content description
Circa 1700 embroidered panel showing a green bird perching atop a series of flowering stems on a hillock. Two stems grow out of a series of four hillocks. From these stems grow a variety of yellow, red, blue, and green buds and flowers, including tulips and carnations. A green bird, perhaps a parakeet, sits on a leaf above the picture's central flower. All of the floral and faunal motifs are worked in cross stitches in silk thread. The background is worked in white silk threads in a pattern of pavilion stitches that cover the entire linen ground. The embroiderer used a framed variation on the pavilion stitch which involves creating a narrow border around each diamond. The four hillocks involve several canvaswork stitches, specifically brick, a variation on oblique Gobelin, and what seems to be a series of horizontal straight stitches worked at random lengths.
This panel is likely part of a larger group of panels and casket tops worked between the end of the 17th century and the first decades of the 18th century, all of which share stylistic similarities including a white canvaswork background and an oversized flowering tree or series of stems. Some examples from this group involve depictions of lions and spotted leopards, with one animal on either side of the tree. Though many of these examples are anonymous, many of those that are named were the work of Quaker girls. Whether or not this type of embroidery was a primarily Quaker style is the subject of current research, though its association with Quakerism is logical given that these panels seem to be the inspiration for larger canvaswork and silkwork pictures that were worked by Quaker and non-Quaker girls and women in Pennsylvania in the 18th century. These Pennsylvanian pictures, too, have oversized flowering trees or stems with exotic flowers, as well as lions and spotted leopards. It is possible, therefore, that this panel has a Quaker connection.
This panel is likely part of a larger group of panels and casket tops worked between the end of the 17th century and the first decades of the 18th century, all of which share stylistic similarities including a white canvaswork background and an oversized flowering tree or series of stems. Some examples from this group involve depictions of lions and spotted leopards, with one animal on either side of the tree. Though many of these examples are anonymous, many of those that are named were the work of Quaker girls. Whether or not this type of embroidery was a primarily Quaker style is the subject of current research, though its association with Quakerism is logical given that these panels seem to be the inspiration for larger canvaswork and silkwork pictures that were worked by Quaker and non-Quaker girls and women in Pennsylvania in the 18th century. These Pennsylvanian pictures, too, have oversized flowering trees or stems with exotic flowers, as well as lions and spotted leopards. It is possible, therefore, that this panel has a Quaker connection.
Dimensions
width: 36cm
height: 39cm
height: 39cm
Materials
Stitches
Techniques
Motifs
Credit line
Gift of Jillian Mary Hogwood, 2022.
Catalogue number
COL.2022.47
Other numbers
RSN 2564
© Royal School of Needlework