Written by Richard Wymarc

• asoot
• embroidery
• german

This piece is one of the main reasons I was inspired to update and publish these notes. I was able to examine this item while at the V&A many years ago, but more recently I found another version, possibly from the same original piece, online at a museum in France. Most interestingly, the Cluny Museum was thoughtful enough to photograph the BACK as well as the front. Something I have never been able to study before, for any of these pieces. Design, size, and colors for the two pieces are all a close match; but there is one major difference: The lion figures face to the right in the V&A version and left on the Cluny Museum version.

Version A:
Description: "Fragment with heraldic devices. German, 14th Century. Colored silks in brick stitch on linen."

Origin: Germany
Period: 13th-14th century
Current location: Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England
Museum number: 859-1899
Object number: O129988

Current Museum page:
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O129988/woven-textile-fragment-unknown/

Current Museum Raw Record info:
http://www.vam.ac.uk/api/json/museumobject/O129988

Personal Observations:
As is usual in these pieces, the black silk is badly deteriorated, otherwise the embroidery on the fragment is in very good shape.

Fabric count: 52 count fabric (Based on personal observation)

Colors noted (Matched under natural light to a DMC sample card):
    Black Silk (DMC 310)
    Cream Silk (DMC 746)
    Green Silk (DMC 580)
    Blue Silk (DMC 519)
    White Linen (DMC White)
 
Images:
http://media.vam.ac.uk/media/thira/collection_images/2009CE/2009CE2414.jpg
http://media.vam.ac.uk/media/thira/collection_images/2012FP/2012FP9159.jpg

Version B:
Description: "Diamond embroidery fragment."

Origin: Germany
Period: 14th century
Current location: Cluny Museum - National Museum of the Middle Ages, Paris, France
Museum number: Cl21859

Current Museum page:
http://www.photo.rmn.fr/archive/13-588227-2C6NU067SOG4.html
http://www.photo.rmn.fr/archive/13-588228-2C6NU067S0I2.html

Personal Observations: Even more so than its close resemblance to Version A above, the exciting thing about this piece is that I can finally examine the back. There has always been a question in my mind as to how the stitching was worked: All three of the below methods would look the same from the front:



But my guess of variation B was correct. at least for this piece. Note to curators and restorers: Researchers like myself are as interested in the back of the piece as the front!

Fabric count: 49-50 count fabric (computed from photograph and known dimensions)

Colors noted (nearly identical to above):
    Black Silk
    Cream Silk
    Green Silk
    Blue Silk
    White Linen
 
Images:
http://www.photo.rmn.fr/archive/13-588227-2C6NU067SOG4.html
http://www.photo.rmn.fr/archive/13-588228-2C6NU067S0I2.html

Patterns:
http://wymarc.com/images/patterns/pdf/Y002A.pdf

Written by Super User

• asoot
• embroidery
• german

14th and 15th Century German Embroidery

Pattern 1: An Embroidered Bag

Pattern A: Image PDF Pattern B: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 2: A Heraldic Fragment

Pattern A: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 3: A Large Bag

Pattern: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 4: A Embroidered Band

Pattern: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 5: Dancing Figures

Pattern: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 6: Part of a Stole

Pattern: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 7: A Banded Fragment

Pattern: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 8: A Geometric Panel

Pattern: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 9: A Reliquary Bag Fragment

Pattern A: Image PDF Pattern B: Image PDF Pattern C: Image PDF Pattern D: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 10: An Embroidered Cushion

Pattern: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 11: An Embroidered Bag

Pattern A: Image PDF Pattern B: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 12: Misc Patterns - The Hildescheim Cope

Pattern A: Image PDF Pattern B: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 13: A Reliquary Bag

Pattern A: Image PDF Pattern B: Image PDF Pattern C: Image PDF Pattern D: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 14: A Reliquary Bag

Pattern A: Image PDF Pattern B: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 15: A Fragment

Pattern A: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 16: An Almoner''s Purse

Pattern A: Image PDF Pattern B: Image PDF Pattern C: Image PDF Pattern D: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 17: A Stole

Pattern A: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 18: A Maniple

Pattern A: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 19: An Orphrey

Pattern A: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 20: A Sudarium

Pattern A: Image PDF Pattern B: Image PDF Pattern C: Image PDF Pattern D: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 21: A Book Cushion

Pattern A: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 22: A Purse

Pattern A: Image PDF Pattern B: Image PDF Pattern C: Image PDF Notes

Pattern 23: A Fragment

Pattern A: Image PDF Notes

Written by Richard Wymarc

• asoot
• embroidery
• german
• bag

This is the one that started it all. I was researching embroidered bands looking for patterns I could use to embellish the necks and cuffs of early period tunics when I happened on Frame I-9 in the Victoria & Albert Museum Textiles Study Room. This piece jumped out at me because of it's simplicity and striking colors. I could see that it would be very easy to embroider, a perfect subject for a beginning embroidery class or article.  Researching its background and history, and charting the other available pieces kept me distracted for a good long time. I never did get back to the original project.

Description: "Small square bag, linen entirely embroidered with colored silks, three tassels"

Origin: Germany
Period: 14th-15th century
Current location: Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England
Museum number: 8699-1863
Object number: O144713

Current Museum page:
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O144713/bag-unknown/
Current Museum Raw Record info:
http://www.vam.ac.uk/api/json/museumobject/O144713


Original catalog description:
"Bag of coarse linen, embroidered with green, blue, red, and white silks, in long stitch, in diaper pattern of squares and crossed line forms. German. 14th centy. 3 1/2 in. sq. This is similar to patterns on specimens Nos. 8305.-1863 (Y-017A coming soon - Y) and 262.-1861 (not listed, likely a misprint of 1262-1864 See Y-018A, coming soon - Y). It may have been used as reliquary or for carrying rosary beads." (Cole: 247)

Personal Observations:
I was able to examine this item very closely, over many sessions, it is probably the one I am most familiar with. It also seems to be a favorite subject for embroiderers out there as reproductions and variations abound.

The bag appears to have been embroidered as one piece, then folded in half and stitched such that there is a fold on one side, with seams at the bottom and remaining side, leaving the top open. A band of tabby-woven linen covers the edges of the opening, and this is pierced with paired holes, probably for one or two drawstrings. This band might be a separate band, or part of the unseen lining pulled out and over to cover the edge.  

Three tassels decorate the bottom of he bag; one centered, the other two at the bottom corners. These are colored red, green, and what might be badly faded gold or yellow. All three tassels are worked through the bag's ground fabric, made directly on the bag by stitching repeatedly through the fabric and then gathering the fibers into a bundle. The tassels are bound with a stitched band, possibly fine leather, possibly gilded.

The museum descriptions given above refer to white silk in the embroidery, however, the actual current label and my own examination identify it as plied linen.

Fabric count: 28 count fabric (Based on personal observation)

Colors noted (Matched under natural light to a DMC sample card):
    Red Silk (DMC 347)
    Green Silk (DMC 368)
    Blue Silk (DMC 312)
    White Linen (DMC 746)

References:
Cole, Alan S. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Collections of Tapestry and Embroidery in the South Kensington Museum. London: Printed by Eyre and Spottiswoode for H.M. Stationery Off., 1888.{https://books.google.com/books?id=KRktAAAAYAAJ}
 
Images:
http://media.vam.ac.uk/media/thira/collection_images/2010ED/2010ED0331.jpg
http://media.vam.ac.uk/media/thira/collection_images/2011ET/2011ET5784.jpg

Patterns:
http://wymarc.com/images/patterns/pdf/Y001A.pdf
http://wymarc.com/images/patterns/pdf/Y001B.pdf