Jacobean embroidery

Jacobean embroidery refers to embroidery styles that flourished in the reign of King James I of England in first quarter of the 17th century.

Embroidered linen jacket c. 1614-18
Sketch of a portion of the base or terra firma from an 18th(?) century curtain.[1]

The term is usually used today to describe a form of crewel embroidery used for furnishing characterized by fanciful plant and animal shapes worked in a variety of stitches with two-ply wool yarn on linen. Popular motifs in Jacobean embroidery, especially curtains for bed hangings, are the Tree of Life and stylized forests, usually rendered as exotic plants arising from a landscape or terra firma with birds, stags, squirrels, and other familiar animals.[1][2]

Origins

Early Jacobean embroidery often featured scrolling floral patterns worked in colored silks on linen, a fashion that arose in the earlier Elizabethan era. Embroidered jackets were fashionable for both men and women in the period 1600-1620, and several of these jackets have survived.

Crewel work on cotton and linen twill ground; stem stitch with long, short and coral stitches and French knots, 1630s V&A Museum no.T.124-1938

Designs

Often based on tree of life imagery, curving branches with large flowers were a typical design. Early crewel embroideries exclusively used wool thread on linen (modern crewel embroidery encompasses a broader range with the only requirement being extensive use of crewel stitch variations).[3]

Legacy

Jacobean embroidery was carried by British colonists to Colonial America, where it flourished. The Deerfield embroidery movement of the 1890s revived interest in colonial and Jacobean styles of embroidery.

  • Pattern of a slip with flowers taken from a 17th-century embroidered curtain[2]
  • Design of a leaf from a bed curtain dated 1659, worked in blue, green, and yellow worsted wool yarn on linen.[1]
  • Sketch of a leaf worked in indigo, brown, and light green[1]
  • Portion of a 17th-century hanging "with a conventional representation
  • Embroidered wool-work curtain of the 17th or 18th century[2]

See also

Notes
  1. Fitzwilliam, Ada Wentworth and A. F. Morris Hands, Jacobean Embroidery, Its Forms and Fillings Including Late Tudor, Keegan Paul, 1912
  2. Christie, Grace: Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving, London 1912
  3. Nichols, Marion (1974). Encyclopedia of Embroidery Stitches Including Crewel. ISBN 0-486-22929-7.

References
  • Christie, Mrs. Archibald (Grace Christie), Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving, London, John Hogg, 1912, online at Project Gutenberg
  • Fitzwilliam, Ada Wentworth and A. F. Morris Hands, Jacobean Embroidery, Its Forms and Fillings Including Late Tudor, Keegan Paul, 1912
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