(Plate VI. fig. 18). It represents scenes from the story of Tristan, agreeing in the main part with the novella entitled “La Tavola Rotonda o l’istoria di Tristano.” The quilt dates from the end of the 14th century. Many pattern-books for embroidery and lace were published in Italy in the 16th and 17th centuries.[1]
In the greater part of the Spanish peninsula art was for many centuries dominated by the Arabs, who overran the country in the 8th century, and were not finally subdued until the end of the 15th. Hispano-Moorish embroideries of the medieval period usually have interlacing patterns combined with Arabic inscriptions. In the 15th and 16th centuries Italian influence becomes evident. Later the effects of the Spanish conquests in Asia are seen. Eastern influence is, however, stronger in the case of the Portuguese, who seized Goa, on the west coast of the Indian peninsula, early in the 16th century, and during the whole of that century held the monopoly of the eastern trade. Many large embroideries were produced in the Indies, showing eastern floral patterns mingled with representations of Europeans, ships and coats of arms. Embroideries done in Portugal in the 16th and 17th centuries strongly reflect the influence of oriental patterns.
German embroidery of the 12th and 13th centuries adheres closely to the traditions of Byzantine art. A peculiarity of much medieval German work is a tendency to treat the draperies of the figures as flat surfaces to be covered with diaper patterns, showing no folds. A cope from Hildesheim cathedral, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, is a typical illustration of such work, dating from the end of the 13th century. It is embroidered in silk upon linen with the martyrdom of apostles and saints. Other specimens of embroidery in this manner may be seen at Halberstadt. An altar-frontal from Rupertsburg (Bingen), belonging to the earlier years of the 13th century, is now in the Brussels museum. It is of purple silk, embroidered with Christ in majesty and figures of saints. It was no doubt made in the time of Siegfried, archbishop of Mainz (1201–1230), who is represented upon it. A type of medieval German embroidery is done in white linen thread on a loose linen ground—a sort of darning-work (Plate II. fig. 10). Earlier specimens of this work are often diversified by using a variety of stitches tending to form diaper patterns. The use of long scrolling bands with inscriptions explaining the subjects represented is more usual in German work than in that of any other country. In the 15th century much fine embroidery was produced in the neighbourhood of Cologne. Later German work shows a preference for bold floral patterns, sometimes mingled with heraldry; the larger examples are often worked in wool on a woollen cloth ground (Plate II. fig. 8). The embroidery of the northern nations (Denmark, Scandinavia, Iceland) was later in development than that of the southern peoples. Figure subjects evidently belonging to as late a period as the 17th century are still disposed in formal rows of circles, and accompanied by primitive ornamental forms (Plate III. fig. 12). A remarkable early embroidered fabric covers the relics of St Knud (Canute, king of Denmark, 1080–1086) in his shrine in the church dedicated to him at Odense. It is apparently contemporary work. The pattern consists of displayed eagles within oval compartments, in blue on a red ground.
In Greece and the islands of the eastern Mediterranean embroidery has been much employed for the decoration of costumes, portières and bed-curtains. Large numbers have been acquired in Crete (Plate IV. fig. 16), and patterns of a distinctive character are also found in Rhodes, Cos, Patmos and other islands. Some examples show traces of the influence of the Venetian trading settlements in the archipelago in the 16th and 17th centuries. Among the Turks a great development of the arts followed upon the conquest of Asia Minor and the Byzantine territory in Europe. Their embroideries show a preference for floral forms—chiefly roses, tulips, carnations and hyacinths—which are treated with great decorative skill.
The use of embroidery in Asia—especially in India, China, Turkestan and Persia—dates back to very early times. The conservatism of all these peoples renders the date of surviving examples often difficult to establish, but the greater number of such embroideries now to be seen in Europe are certainly of no great age.
India has produced vast quantities of embroideries of varying excellence. The fine woollen shawls of Kashmir are widely famed; their first production is supposed to date back to a remote period. The somewhat gaudy effect of many Indian embroideries is at times intensified by the addition of beetles’ wings, tinsel or fragments of looking-glass. China is the original home of the silkworm, and the textile arts there reached an advanced stage at a date long before that of any equally skilful work in Europe. Embroideries worked there are generally in silk threads on a ground of the same material. Such work is largely used for various articles of costume, and for coverlets, screens, banners, chair-covers and table-hangings. The ornaments upon the robes especially are prescribed according to the rank of the wearer. The designs include elaborate landscapes with buildings and figures, dragons, birds, animals, symbolic devices, and especially flowers (Plate III. fig. 11). Dr Bushell states that the stuff to be embroidered is first stretched upon a frame, on pivots, and that pattern-books with woodcuts have been published for the workers’ guidance. A kind of embroidery exported in large quantities from Canton to Europe rivals painting in the variety and gradation of its colours, and in the smoothness and regularity of its surface.
Embroidery in Japan resembles in many ways that of China, the country which probably supplied its first models. As a general rule, Japanese work is more pictorial and fanciful than that of China, and the stitching is looser. It frequently happens that the brush has been used to add to the variety of the embroidered work, and in other cases the needle has been an accessory upon a fabric already ornamented with printing or painting. Japanese work is characterized generally by bold and broad treatment, and especial skill is shown in the representation of landscapes—figures, rocks, waterfalls, animals, birds, trees, flowers and clouds being each rendered by a few lines. More elaborate are the large temple hangings, the pattern being frequently thrown into relief, and completely covering the ground material.
Embroidery in Persia has been used to a great extent for the decoration of carpets, for prayer or for use at the bath (Plate V. fig. 17). Robes, hangings, curtains, tablecovers and portières are also embroidered. A preference is shown for floral patterns, but the Mahommedans of Persia had no scruples about introducing the forms of men and animals—the former engaged in hawking or hunting, or feasting in gardens. Panels embroidered with close diagonal bands of flowers were made into loose trousers for women, now obsolete. The embroidered shawls of Kerman are widely celebrated. Hangings and covers of cloth patchwork have been embroidered in many parts of Persia, more particularly at Resht and Ispahan.
In Turkestan, and especially at Bokhara, excellent embroideries have been, and are, produced, some patterns being of a bold floral type, and others conventionalized into hooked and serrated outlines. The work is most usually in bright-coloured silks, red predominating, on a linen material.
In North Africa the embroidery of Morocco and Algeria deserves notice; the former inclines more to geometrical forms and the latter to patterns of a floral character.
Bibliography.—Lady Alford, Needlework as Art (London, 1886); Mrs M. Barber, Some Drawings of Ancient Embroidery (ib., 1880); P. Blanchet, Tissus antiques et du haut moyen-âge (Paris, 1897); F. Bock, Die Kleinodien des Heiligen Römischen Reiches Deutscher Nation (Vienna, 1864); M. Charles, Les Broderies et les dentelles (Paris, 1905); Mrs Christie, Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving (London, 1906); A. S. Cole, C.B., “Some Aspects of Ancient and Modern Embroidery” (Soc. of Arts Journal, liii., 1905, pp. 956-973); R. Cox, L’Art de décorer les tissus (Paris, Lyons, 1900); L. F. Day, Art in Needlework (London, 1900); A. Dolby, Church Embroidery
- ↑ Others, sometimes with the same illustrations, appeared in France and Germany, and no doubt forwarded the general tendency towards Italian models at the time. A few pattern-books were also published in England.
