Seventeenth-century embroideries in the Burrell collection

Magazine Antiques, June, 1995 by Liz Arthur

Among the most outstanding embroideries in the collection is a set of hawking accouterments (see Pl. III) believed to have been owned by James VI of Scotland (later James I of England). Made of leather with enameled-gold mounts, the hawking pouch is embroidered with blackberries and mistletoe. Known in the Scottish Highlands as the "blessed bramble" because of its healing' properties, the blackberry can also snare the unwary, and it may be this idea that is intended by pairing it with mistletoe, a symbol of life and a protective talisman. Whether the set is of Scottish, English, or French origin is not known, but it is certainly the work of a professional embroiderer, as is true of some of the other finest pieces in the collection.

The medieval English guild of embroiderers was refounded as the Broderers' Company in 1561, when it was given its charter for the organization of professional workers. Embroiderers usually served an eight-year apprenticeship, during which they became proficient in the use of split stitch and or nue (shaded gold), thus continuing the medieval tradition. One of the most important members of the Broderers' Company was Edmund Harrison (1590-1667), who served as warden of the company and was the court embroiderer not only to James I but also to Charles I and Charles II in England. At the time of his death, Charles II owed Harrison [pounds]3,150.(2) In Scotland, professional embroiderers in Edinburgh were members of the Incorporation of Tailors, and even after James VI's ascension to the English throne they supplied the law courts and Scottish parliament with ceremonial garments.(3)

Some professional embroiderers had their own workshops, some traveled the country, and others were attached to aristocratic households to draw designs and supervise their execution by the ladies of the house. Some shops produced large wall coverings, tents, horse furniture, and table carpets. Others were attached to the court, providing livery, costumes for masques, and heraldic embroidery for state occasions. An example of the latter is the sumptuously worked purse in Plate I, which was made for Francis North (1637-1685), first Baron Guilford, to contain the great seal that was the Lord Chancellors symbol of office.

Little is known about specific professional embroiderers in England, in part because the records of the Broderers' Company were destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. Surviving inventories describe garments made by John Parr (w. c. 1581-1607) for Elizabeth I and later for James I, ranging from raiments for state occasions to small pieces such as caps and edging for shoes.(4)

Among the articles of clothing produced in professional workshops were women's semiformal jackets, such as the example in Plate IV, which is virtually identical to one on loan to the Museum of Costume in Bath, England. On both, the embroidery sometimes continues into the seams and the pattern does not match, which makes it likely that a long length of linen was embroidered with the scrolling stems and floral motifs and then was cut to order to make the jackets. No provenance survives for either jacket, nor is it known if other examples exist.

Scrolling patterns in the form of coiling stems are probably a survival of the medieval tradition, which often included birds and animals among the stems. The sixteenth- and seventeenth-century patterns are often less sophisticated than the earlier examples and display a vital naive charm emphasized by a lively use of color. A particularly fine example can be seen in Plate II, one of the collection's several early seventeenth-century decorative caps and coifs (a kind of cap that would originally have had a drawstring along the undecorated edge that fitted the back of the neck). It is embroidered with a variety of animals, ranging from heraldic beasts (such as the lion and the leopard) to representations of the senses (such as the dog for smell, the stag for hearing, the boar for lust, and the monkey for taste). At the lower right is a wivern, a traditional symbol of cruelty, and coiling among the stems are snakes, which denote wisdom and logic and, because of their association with Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, also stand for healing. These symbols would have been readily understood by the educated and were possibly adapted from one of the increasing number of pattern books published in the seventeenth century,(5) although to date no embroideries of the period have been linked directly to designs in those pattern books. The dragon and snakes on the coil are similar to those drawn by Thomas Trevelyon (1548-after 1616), a writing master who compiled collections of patterns from a variety of sources, including scriveners' alphabets, herbals, and such volumes as Edward Topsell's History of the Four-footed Beasts... of 1607.(6) Trevelyon gathered the designs for his own use, but many were dearly adaptable to use in embroidery, plasterwork, or wood carving.

As in the Middle Ages, the gentry and aristocracy of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries often owned several houses and moved from one to another, taking their furnishings with them. Indeed, their tapestries, bed hangings, cushions, and linens became traveling status symbols. The hangings for the bed, the largest and most important piece of furniture, usually consisted of two wide and two narrow curtains and two sets of valances - one set of three for around the tester and another set of three for below the counterpane. Valances were made throughout northern Europe and are possibly of French origin, although many of the surviving examples are Scottish. They were generally worked in silks and wools in tent stitch on canvas and were executed by both professional and amateur needleworkers, although those stitched by amateurs were probably drown by professionals. The designs incorporated biblical stories, garden or rural scenes peopled with elegantly costumed figures, and representations of classical virtues and vices. The latter were often taken from designs in emblem books, which included various pictorial devices representing fables, myths, allegories, and proverbs or other wise sayings. One of the most popular such books was E. Geoffrey Whitney's Choice of Emblems and other devices, which like so many books of designs was ultimately derived from Andrea Alciati's (1492-1550) Emblematum Liber, first published in Augsburg, Germany, in 1531. Illustrated in Plate V is a detail of a valance that includes several emblems from Whitney's book [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED]. The Burrell Collection also includes three valances from the earliest known surviving set of valances, executed by the household of Sir Colin Campbell (d. 1583), the sixth laird of Glenorchy, in the early 1550's. The three other valances from the set are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.