Exhibition of English Embroidery Executed Prior to the Middle of the XVI Century.

Burlington Fine Arts Club ; Kendrick, A. F.

Published by Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, post-exhibition (so second) edition, 1905, 1905

About this Item

Cloth over bevelled boards, gilt cover-title, top edge gilt, 4to, 41 cm, 87 pp, 30 plates, of which the frontispiece and 8 others are in colour. The post-exhibition illustrated catalogue. From the introduction - "Among the arts which flourished in England in mediaeval times, none was more in repute than that of embroidery. English work was specially valued abroad, and was frequently recorded as such by the scribes who penned the wills of ecclesiastics and inventories of church goods as early as the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The term opus anglicanum is found in French, Italian, and Spanish documents of this class, and it was certainly regarded not only as denoting the country of origin, but as indicating also the value and excellence of the work. But English embroidery was seen and appreciated on the continent of Europe before the thirteenth century… William of Poitiers, the chronicler and chaplain of William the Conqueror, states that . Englishwomen were highly skilled in embroidery and weaving. Farther back still we have the most conclusive evidence of the skill of Anglo-Saxon embroiderers. The highest level of excellence in English embroidery was reached in the later part of the thirteenth century. The greater number of the fine examples of anglicanum to be found in England, France, Italy, Spain, and elsewhere, belong approximately to the period between the years 1270 and 1330. The examples preserved are almost invariably copes, many of which are in a mutilated state, owing to their having been cut to serve other purposes. The subjects represented cover a wide range." Bookplate of John R. Menzies on front pastedown endpaper, covers slightly rubbed with minor wear at spine-ends, some scattered light foxing, minor edgewear to 3 leaves which slightly project from the textblock, otherwise a Very Good copy.

Seller Inventory # ABE-52590

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Exhibition of English Embroidery Executed Prior to the Middle of the XVI Century.
• Publisher: Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, post-exhibition (so second) edition, 1905
• Publication Date: 1905
• Binding: Hardcover
• Seller catalogs:
  • Art Reference