Chats on Old Lace and Needlework Part 14

Dainty shoes were embroidered in those old times. These, being articles of wear, like the gloves, are very rare. The same fine pet.i.t point work is seen on them; seed-pearls and in-run gold threads adorn them, and frequently the Tudor rose, in raised work, forms the shoe knot. Two pairs in Lady Wolseley's Collection, sold in 1906, fetched six guineas, and nine and a half guineas. Tiny pocket-books were covered with this pretty work, and charming covers almost as fresh as when they were worked are occasionally unearthed, made to hold the old-fashioned housekeeping and cooking books.

One wonders oftentime how many, and yet, alas! how few, specimens of this old pet.i.t point work have been preserved. It is only during recent years that the "cult of the antique" has been fashionable, and is also becoming a source of income and profit to the many who indulge in its quest. Only members of learned antiquarian societies or born reliquaries troubled themselves to acquire ancient articles of historic interest because they were _old_, and served to form the sequence in the fairy tales of Time. Anything "old" was ruthlessly destroyed, as being either past wear, shabby, or old-fashioned, and countless treasures, both in ecclesiastical and secular art, have at all periods been recklessly destroyed for the sake of their intrinsic value in gold or jewels. In the early days of my life I was allowed to pick out the corals and seed-pearls from an old Stuart needle picture "for a doll's necklace!"

the picture itself probably going into the "rag-bag" of the mid-Victorian good housekeeper.

VI

STUART CASKETS AND MIRRORS

VI

STUART CASKETS AND MIRRORS

Secret drawers and hidden receptacles--High prices in the Salerooms.

Among the many treasures of this exquisite period of needlecraft are the well-known Stuart caskets. Very interesting and valuable are these charming boxes, many of them being in a fine state of preservation, owing to their having been enclosed in either a wooden or leathern box specially made to contain them. These queer little boxes are frequently made in the shape of Noah's ark. The lid being raised, a fitted mirror is disclosed. The mirror slides out, and a secret recess may be discovered to hold letters. The front falls down, disclosing any number of tiny drawers, each drawer being silk-lined and the front of it embroidered. Here, again, we may look for secret drawers. Very seldom does the drawer run to the width of the cabinet, but by removing every drawer and carefully searching for springs or slides many a tiny recess is disclosed, where costly jewels, and perhaps a love-gage, has reposed safely from the sight of unworthy eyes.

Every square inch of these caskets is covered with embroidery, sometimes in canvas, worked with the usual scriptural or mythological design, and in others with white satin, exquisitely embroidered with figures and floral subjects. Those in best preservation have been covered with mica, which has preserved both the colour and the fabric. The fittings are generally of silver. On the few occasions when these boxes or caskets come into the market high prices are realised. Messrs. Christie last year obtained 40 for a good specimen. I have never seen one sold under 30, and as much as 100 has been given.

Another pretty fancy was to cover small trays, presumably for the work or dressing table, with embroidery. Not many of these remain, the wear of removing them from place to place having been too much for their staying powers. One in my possession is a small hexagonal tray with raised sides, embroidered in coloured silks in floral design, on what was once white satin. It is by no means a thing of beauty now, but as a specimen it is interesting, and "a poor thing, but mine own," which covers a mult.i.tude of shortcomings in these old relics, fortunately.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "STUART" MIRROR FRAME.

(_Lady Wolseley's Collection._)]

Far more frequently met with, though quite prohibitive in price, are the Stuart embroidered mirrors, which easily command 80 to 100 in the salerooms. They are generally set in a frame of oak, leaving five or six inches (which would otherwise be covered with carving or veneer) for the embroidery. The mirror itself is comparatively small, being only a secondary consideration, and often little remains of it for its original purpose, as the gla.s.s is blurred and the silvering gone. Many of these mirrors have _bevelled_ gla.s.s, which, of course, is wrong.

The mirror shown in the ill.u.s.tration is one recently belonging to Viscountess Wolseley and sold by her, among other Stuart needlework specimens, at Messrs. Puttick & Simpson's in 1906. This mirror sold for 100. The figures represent Charles I. and Queen Henrietta Maria, one on either side of the mirror. The figure at the top of the frame is difficult to understand; whether she is an angel or a mere Court lady must be left to conjecture. The rolling clouds and the blazing sun are above her head, and a peac.o.c.k, with tail displayed, is on one side and a happy-looking stag on the other. Two royal residences adorn the topmost panels on either side, with all their bravery of flying flags and smoking chimneys, and the lion and the leopard occupy the lower panels.

The latter animal identifies the King and Queen, who might otherwise be Charles II. and his consort, as after Charles I.'s time the leopard gave place to the unicorn for some unexplained reason. Other typical little Stuart animals and birds fill in the extra panels, such as the spotted dog who chases a little hare who is never caught, and the gaily-coloured parroquet and kingfisher, which no respectable Stuart picture would be without. The caterpillar, the ladybird, and the snail are all _en evidence_; and below is a real pond, covered with talc, and containing fish and ducks, the banks being made of tiny branching coral beads and tufted silk and bullion work.

About this time, when Venetian lace came into fashionable use as an adjunct to the exquisite Stuart dress, tiny coloured beads were imported from Venice. The embroiderers at once seized upon them as a new and possibly more lasting means of showing their pretty fancies in design.

Many delightful specimens of these beadwork pictures are preserved, the colours, of course, being as fresh as yesterday. The ground was always of white satin, now faded and discoloured with age, and often torn with the heaviness of the beadwork design. They are scarcely so charming as the all needlework pictures, but still are delightful and covetable articles. The exigencies of the beadwork, however, lends a certain stiffness and ungainliness to the figures.

VII

EMBROIDERED BOOKS AND "BLACK WORK"

[Ill.u.s.tration: "STUART" BOOK COVER.

(_British Museum._)]

VII

EMBROIDERED BOOKS AND "BLACK WORK"

Style and symbolism--Specimen in British Museum and Bodleian Libraries--"Black work"

Among the many dainty examples of Tudor and Stuart needlework are to be found the exquisitely embroidered book-covers which date from Queen Elizabeth's girlhood until the time of Charles II. They were always of diminutive size, and many st.i.tches diversify their covering; oftentimes they were liberally embroidered with seed-pearls, and in these instances most frequently this fashion has been their salvation. A book somehow always seems to be a more sacred thing than a picture, and the costly little volumes which remain to show this dainty handicraft have apparently always been used either for Church or private devotional purposes.

The designs of the book-covers almost always follow certain styles.

These are either heraldic, scriptural, symbolical, floral, or arabesque.

The first-named variety usually belonged to royalty or one of the many n.o.ble houses whose ladies busied themselves with fair needlework. The shield, containing the coat of arms of the family, occupied the centre of the book-cover, being formed in raised gold and silver guipure or cord, and on the reverse the worker's initials frequently appear, with a pretty border in gold and silver, to outline the edges.

The scriptural book-covers are always worked on canvas in fine pet.i.t point st.i.tches. One in South Kensington Museum is larger than most of these volumes, and has on one side Solomon in all his glory and on the reverse Jacob and his ladder and King David. These canvas-covered books appear to have suffered most from the wear and tear of time, and very few remain.

The symbolical covers are few, and mostly uninteresting. They are worked as a rule on silk and satin in loose satin st.i.tches, which have suffered much from friction. The sacred monogram is often the centre of the device. A favourite design was adorning the back of the books with portraits of the martyred King Charles I., Queen Henrietta Maria, and the popular Duke of Buckingham.

[Ill.u.s.tration: POCKET-BOOK OF SATIN, EMBROIDERED WITH COLOURED SILKS AND SILVER-GILT THREAD.

Said to have been the property of Queen Elizabeth.

(_In Countess Brownlow's Collection._)]

The st.i.tches used were generally chain-st.i.tch, split-st.i.tch, pet.i.t point, and lace-st.i.tch; and the patterns were most frequently outlined with a gimp made of flattened spiral wire, or _purl_, which was a fine copper wire covered with coloured silks and cut in lengths for use. Very often, also, small silver spangles were employed, either st.i.tched down with a piece of purl or a seed-pearl. Frequently the covers were of velvet with the designs appliqued down to it, and _laid_ or _couch_ work outlined the designs. Sometimes flat pieces of metal were cut to shape and st.i.tched down, as in one instance where the corners of the books were trimmed with the rays of the sun cut in gold, and st.i.tched over with a gold thread.

Many of the charming little bags of which mention has already been made are supposed to have been worked to hold the Prayer Book and Book of Psalms, without which no devout lady deemed herself fully equipped.

The most famous book is Queen Elizabeth's Book in the British Museum.

The cover is of choice green velvet, the flat of the back has five roses embroidered in lace, raised st.i.tches and gold and pearl. The Royal Arms are on either side of the book in a lozenge of red silk and pearls. The whole design, apart from this, is worked in red and white roses and scrolls of gold and silk. This gorgeous little cover contains "The Mirrour of Gla.s.se of the Synneful Soul," written by Elizabeth herself, and of it she writes that she "translated it out of french ryme into english prose, joyning the sentences together as well as the capacities of my symple witte and small lerning could extende themselves." It is dedicated "To our most n.o.ble and virtuous Queen Katherine [Katherine Parr] from a.s.sherige, the last day of the year of our Lord G.o.d, 1544."

In the Bodleian Library there is another treasured little book, again worked by Queen Elizabeth. It is only 7 inches by 5 inches, and has the same design on both sides. In this the ground is what is known as "tapestry st.i.tch," worked in thick, pale-blue silk, and the design is of interlacing gold and silver threads with a Tudor rose in each corner.

"K. P." is marked on the cover, and shows that this also was worked for Queen Katherine Parr.

Yet another little book is in the British Museum. It contains a prayer composed by Queen Katherine Parr, and is written on vellum by Queen Elizabeth.

The cover ill.u.s.trated is a typical example of the cla.s.s of embroidered works of the period. Later the covers showed less intricate work, and finally developed into mere velvet covers embroidered with silver or gold.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STUART EMBROIDERED CAP. (_S.K.M. Collection._)]

BLACK WORK.

A curious phase of Old English embroidery is the well-known "Black Work," which is said to have been introduced by Catherine of Aragon into England, and was also known as "Spanish work." The work itself was a marvel of neatness, precision, and elegant design, but the result cannot be said to have been commensurate with the labour of its production.

Most frequently the design was of scroll-work, worked with a fine black silk back-st.i.tching or chain-st.i.tch. Round and round the st.i.tches go, following each other closely. Bunches of grapes are frequently worked solidly, and even the popular peascod is worked in outline st.i.tch, and often the pet.i.t point period lace st.i.tches are copied, and roses and birds worked separately and after st.i.tched to the design. There are many examples of this famous "Spanish" work in the South Kensington Museum. Quilts, hangings, coats, caps, jackets, smocks are all to be seen, some with a couched thread of gold and silver following the lines of the scrolls. This is said to be the Spanish st.i.tch referred to in the old list of st.i.tches, and very likely may be so, as the style and manner are certainly not English; and we know that Catherine of Aragon brought wonders of Spanish st.i.tchery with her, and she herself was devoted to the use of the needle. The story of how when called before Cardinal Wolsey and Campeggio, to answer to King Henry's accusations, she had a skein of embroidery silk round her neck is well known.