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.

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.

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).

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.

Gallery

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

See also

• 1600–1650 in fashion
• Crewel embroidery
• Margaret Laton's embroidered jacket
• Christopher Shawe
• Oes

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

External links

• Surviving Jacobean embroidered jacket as the Museum of Costume
• Jacobean Embroidery, by Ada Wentworth Fitzwilliam and A. F. Morris Hands, 1912, from Project Gutenberg