Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Elephants in 17th century embroidery

Lot 384 Bonhams January 2014 The Oak Interiors
This embroidery at Bonhams latest auction made me stop as I thought immediately 'I've seen this before!'.  Well I kinda had, but not exactly.  There is a piece at the Burrell that is very similar to this and obviously related by teacher or workshop.  The piece at the Burrell also has this fun stuffed elephant as well.

The item can be seen here and magnified.  It is a neat mix of counted embroidery, lots of queen stitch as well as slips and needlelace stuffed to enhance motifs.  I like the graphic quality of this piece's coloring and chunky style, a bit modern.

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