Lot Essay
Embroidered caskets such as these would have been made by young ladies who learned the needlework from about the age of eight and by the age of fourteen would have been highly accomplished. The earliest known casket of this form is at The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, dated 1657 and was made by Hannah Smith, a girl aged 12. The form, with a hinged lid and sloping sides is often known as a 'double casket'. A casket of almost identical form and with very similar decoration is in The Burrell Collection, Glasgow (L. Arthur, Embroidery 1600-1700 at The Burrell Collection, London, 1995, frontispiece & fig. no. 79). The choice of Biblical subject matter was not only a reflection of the importance of the Bible in 17th century England, but also the choice of the subject itself showed the encouragement of womanly virtues, demonstrating the responsible and influential role of women in marriage. This casket includes both Biblical and mythological scenes, suggesting a date of the later 17th century, when mythological scenes gradually superseded Biblical subjects in popularity.
Compare also Martha Edlin's casket of 1671 in the Victoria & Albert Museum's collection, Museum no. T.432-1990, executed when she was 11 years old, which employs similar laid work embroidery to this example. Wilby Hall, Wilby, Suffolk was a moated house of 1579 (J. Kenworthy-Browne et al, Burke's and Savills Guide to Country Houses: volume III East Anglia, London, 1981, p. 269).
Compare also Martha Edlin's casket of 1671 in the Victoria & Albert Museum's collection, Museum no. T.432-1990, executed when she was 11 years old, which employs similar laid work embroidery to this example. Wilby Hall, Wilby, Suffolk was a moated house of 1579 (J. Kenworthy-Browne et al, Burke's and Savills Guide to Country Houses: volume III East Anglia, London, 1981, p. 269).