Sandra lyn bullion2/26/2024 He said he imagined marrying a boy someday and that he had a crush on Jacob from “Twilight.” Without hesitation, I jokingly told him I was Team Edward but that I loved him anyway, followed by a very serious conversation about why some people may be unkind to him because of who he chooses to love. If this is the original velvet it would be a silk velvet.My son came to me when he was nearly 11 and told me that he didn’t like girls. Sometimes the embroidery was even moved from one backing fabric to another. Very often pieces like this were cut up and re-purposed at a later date- vestments were recut to the latest fashion, altar frontals resized or re-used as wall hangings, etc. Chipwork/purl work/bullion work was not in common use until a later period, although sometimes you can find small amounts of it in pieces like this. Usually these pieces are embroidered on linen, and then the linen embroidered bits are appliqued down onto the velvet. Your piece looks to be in about the same condition as the ones I’ve seen, as well. I believe the gold might have turned grey because it is “silver gilt” and the “gilt” part has worn off, allowing the silver to show through and tarnish. The techniques are very similar to what your piece has- mostly couching, but often little bits of other things. One example is at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (here: id=66538 type=101 ) The pieces are ecclesiastical in nature, sometimes parts of vestments, sometimes altar frontals, etc. This piece looks very similar to several pieces I have seen that are dated to the 16th century, mostly from Italy or the Netherlands. So that’s what I know about the piece after a first overview.ĭoes the piece prompt any questions in you? If you were looking at it up close, what would you want to find out about it? What would you want your examinations to reveal to you? Feel free to ask away, and I’ll do the poking and prodding to see if I can find some answers! The embroidery hasn’t been salvaged from something else and adjusted to fill up that space – it actually was drawn to fit the space and embroidered within that space. That the design used was drawn to fit within the size of that portion of whatever larger thing the piece comes from. That is is very heavy for a relatively small piece (10″ x 27″). That it is trimmed with fringe made from real metal threads. (I since discovered it was the decorative valance on a “half tester” bed – probably 15th / 16th century or thereabouts.) The cut is right across the top of the piece, above the gold braid. It looks like a side panel or front panel of some larger textile – maybe a fancy sideboard cloth, or an altar covering, or a canopy, or something. That it was (most sadly!) cut from a larger piece. What else does a first encounter reveal about the piece? (You can click on that photo above for a slightly larger version.) But in their exposure, a different type of beauty is revealed. These are the cores of gold passing threads, rococco, and the like – the cores would not normally have been exposed, except for the age and wear on the piece. There are bright yellow cores, pale peaches, soft greens. I also know that the cores of the various couched threads are silk, and that the core threads are different colors. The piece, in its original state, must have been sumptuous. Several types of metal threads have been couched in myriad ways to create contrast, texture, and interest.Īnd I know that, if the goldwork threads were intact now, the piece would be a-dazzle with the gleam and glitter caused by those various techniques reflecting light in different ways. I know that, although all the threads are couched, they aren’t all the same kinds of threads or the same couching techniques. All the metal threads are couched, even in areas where chip work with purl or bullion would have made sense. I know that it doesn’t feature any purl, bullion, chip work, or the like. I know that the piece contains many well-executed examples of couched goldwork threads. I do know that all the goldwork threads are now a blue-ish grey, but most of the silk threads still retain their color, though perhaps not as vivid as their original color. I don’t know how old this piece is, and I don’t know anything about the history of it. Maybe your questions can prompt me to explore the piece in directions I wouldn’t have thought of! If you have any questions about it, or you have any input on it, you are welcome to join into the discuss by leaving a comment. The more I look at it, the more I love it! And the more I look at it, the more I think about it and want to know more about it.īefore talking nitty-gritty details, I just want to show the piece to you and point out things that are noticeable about it on the first approach. The funny thing is, I didn’t start loving it truly until I started looking at it closely. I love this piece of old goldwork embroidery on velvet! And I want to show it to you!
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