Melinda Sherbring

This paper describes a 16th c. sweet bag held in a private collection. It is well-worn, with missing pieces and a few holes. It displays some less-common features, such as a design of sprigs of unusual form within lozenges with looped intersections, lozenge lines defined by bits of silver bullion formed to look like chain stitch.

Updated Dec 2023 to document other examples found in 17th c. embroideries of  the barred-edge lozenges motif and explore variations. This is the second in a series of papers about English sweet bags from the late 1500s to the mid-1600s. Each paper will present a detailed analysis of the specific features of a different surviving sweet bag. This paper may reference the first one, to minimize excessive repetition. The plan is to investigate aspects of historical sweet bag construction, design, and stitches to see what is normal and what variations exist within that norm. I had these questions: • What can this piece tell us about sweet bag construction, embroidery design, and stitches used in Early Modern England (ca.

On 1 November 2016, I had the opportunity to examine and photograph this bag at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. This paper documents what I found. I looked closely at this bag's construction, materials, stitches, and designs, to see what it can tell us about this bag's history, as well as contributing in general to our knowledge of such purses in late Tudor and early Stuart times. Comparing this to other bags surviving from that time facilitates our understanding of what was typical, and what was unusual. The overall place of embroidered bags within the culture of the time is left for other papers to explore. This bag has seen some rough times, but its design layout appears to be unique, though related to other bags. It has different designs front and back, a phrase around the perimeter, initials, and, probably most obvious, a gray ribbon swag around the mouth of the bag.

This paper examines the polychrome embroidered coif M.84.46.4 in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) from the standpoints of construction, materials, design layout, motifs, and stitches. It is compared to other extant pieces with similar qualities. Most notable is a visual similarity to a forehead cloth currently in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The two pieces appear to share layout, motifs, colors, and stitch choices.

This is one of a series of papers about Early Modern English sweet bags. Each paper presents a detailed description of the specific features of a different surviving embroidered bag. This paper describes the general construction of sweet bags, followed by details of item’s construction. Then it goes into detail about .materials, design layout, motifs, and stitches of this bag, with photos illustrating the observations.
This bag, MFA 43.1082, is a tent-stitched and raised work sweet bag with basically the same design on each side, though one side has a red borage flower and the other has a borage of red and blue petals. Some of the unusual, perhaps unique aspects of this sweet bag are summarized here.
The way it mixes gilt and silver elements in the details is rarely seen to this extent. Also possibly unique is the normally blue borage flowers colored red on one side and mixed red and blue on the other. An uncommon but not unheard-of characteristic of this bag are flower stems worked with a couched metal bullion thread instead of a loopy stitch worked with passing thread. The petals and leaves on this bag were all worked in a variety of metal and silk threads, made into raised elements and, in some places, two layers of raised elements. It is one of at least 21 surviving bags with such raised elements, out of at least 215 surviving square drawstring purses of the English Early Modern period.

This is one of a series of papers about English embroidered items from the late 1500s to the mid-1600s.  This unlined, assembled man’s night cap such as those worn in 16th and 17th c. England, is strewn with acorns worked in speckled blackwork and gold thread. The brim is folded up and topped with gold bobbin lace. The ground fabric is a pale linen, embroidered with black silk thread accented with gold thread. One thing I found very interesting is the way the Plaited Braid stitch started, and clear evidence on the inside about how the original embroiderer moved from motif to motif.

Cushion cover LACMA M.88.102.1 is a late 16th to early 17th century embroidery with some apparently unique characteristics. This illustrated paper describes the cushion’s construction, materials, design layout, motifs, and stitches.
This piece provides an exciting new insight into embroidery technique combinations in use in England during that time period. The beginning of the Stitches section describes how this piece combines two polychrome silk techniques and a diapered blackwork technique, something not found in any other examples I’ve seen. Then the Stitches section proper examines a new stitch that I have yet to find published elsewhere.

This blackwork coif in a private collection appears to be a typical example of late 16th  to early 17th  century embroidery. The style of blackwork and the floral elements are similar to other examples of that time.
Distinctive aspects of this coif are listed below:
• It is in rough shape, with several large stains, discussed in the Construction section.
• Most of the embroidery has disappeared. The Materials section discusses why.
• There are no surviving spangles, but also no evidence that they were ever present.
• The decorative layout composed of slips within lozenges is not unique, but only a few coifs using this style survive. There is more information in the Design Layout section.
• It uses only silver passing thread for the metal thread portions. While uncommon, it is not unique, as noted in the Materials section.

MFA 43.249 is an unlined, assembled woman’s coif, such as those worn in 16th and 17th c. England, embroidered with a continuous design on a single piece of fabric, with a seam at the top and gathers at the crown. The base is folded up to form a tube through which a now-absent cord or ribbon could be threaded.

The ground fabric is linen, with polychrome silk and metal thread embroidery of silver. The embroidery is even and consistent. Five rows of spiraling stems enclose a total of eight common Elizabethan flowers: seven attached to and placed at the focal point of each spiral, one in its own diamond-shaped box. The colors are bright and very similar on the right and wrong sides, indicating relatively little fading. The ground fabric is a relatively dark toasty brown.

The investigation method is to observe carefully and record what is seen. This example is compared to other surviving embroideries of similar provenance. The tools used were cameras, rulers, and examples of known modern materials for purposes of comparison.

This is the second in a series of papers about English caps from the late 1500s to the mid-1600s, and the fourth on embroidered items of that era. Each paper on caps presents a detailed analysis of the specific features of a different surviving man's night cap, woman's coif, or woman's forehead cloth. The plan is to investigate aspects of historical construction, design, and stitches to see what is normal practice for 16 th-17 th c. English embroidery on personal items and what variations exist within that norm.

Abstract
Slips and Lozenges Sweet Bag MFA 38.1344

This is the second of a series of papers about Early Modern English sweet bags. Each paper presents a detailed description of the specific features of a different surviving embroidered bag. This paper describes the item’s construction, materials, design layout, motifs, and stitches, with photos illustrating the observations. Construction details not usually visible on other surviving bags include the use of facings on the interior and wooden beads within the decorative Turk’s Head knots. Materials used on this bag were a nearly even-weave linen ground cloth, gold and silver threads, flat silk threads, and small pearls. The design layout features six different floral slip drawings placed within a framework of lozenges with complex sides. Of the seven different stitches on this bag, tent stitch covers the most ground, with classic plaited braid and ladder braid prominently featured.

This is the first of a series of papers about Early Modern English sweet bags. Each paper will do a detailed analysis of the specific features of a different surviving sweet bag. Other papers may reference this one, to minimize excessive repetition. The plan is to investigate aspects of historical sweet bag construction, design, and stitches to see what is normal and what variations exist within that norm. I had these questions:
• What can this piece tell us about sweet bag construction, embroidery design, and stitches used in the first part of Early Modern England?
• Does this piece appear to have any unique characteristics?
The investigation method is careful observation and notation. I compared these observations to other surviving embroideries of similar provenance. Photos of the oth-er pieces mentioned here can be found on their respective museum websites, which are accessible on-line. The tools used were cameras, rulers, and examples of known mod-ern materials for comparison. In particular, neither specialized machines nor destructive tests were used to determine things such as precise fiber content. The figures here are extracted from photos taken that day, or are illustrations drawn by me.

This paper documents observations made about a surviving late 16th or early 17th century English embroidered woman’s linen forehead cloth or cross cloth (alternative names for what is basically a small, right-triangle-shaped head scarf) in the collection of Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.
This forehead cloth is representative of early 17th century embroidery, though not actually typical. The scrolling stems layout is similar to many other pieces from that time and place. The stitches were used in other works from that era as well.
The elements this forehead cloth shares with other surviving embroidered items are also what make it unique. This piece has taken the road less traveled in terms of embroidery technique, the stitch chosen for the metal thread work, the choice of silver instead of gold, and the flower stylizations. Each of these elements can be found elsewhere as well, but only in a few surviving instances. This is the only embroidered item that this researcher has found so far that combines all these elements into one piece.
The investigation method has been to carefully describe what can be observed, and compare it to other surviving embroideries of similar provenance. Similarities and differences are noted. Photos of the comparison pieces can be found on their respective museum websites. The tools used were cameras, rulers, and examples of known modern materials for comparison. In particular, no specialized machines nor destructive tests were employed. The figures are extracted from photos taken of the piece.
This article starts with an overall description, followed by observations of construction, materials, design layout, motifs, and stitches, all accompanied by photos.

This is one of several papers about 16th and 17th century English embroidered coifs. This one is from a private collection. It features 32 instances of a single flower within 4 rows of scrolls, all worked in silver-gilt thread. The article discusses similarities to as well as differences from other extant historical items.