18TH CENTURY

Only a small number of silk embroideries are known which are stitched on a black and white chequered cotton ground. Our lot as well as the silk Caucasian needlework offered in this sale (lot 93) has such cotton material which was probably used as a sort of guidance for the weaver in order to transmit the sketch from a squared chart onto the fabric. The present lot is stitched in diagonal long stitch, whereas in the needlework cross-stitch has been used. As Jennifer Wearden has pointed out the long stitch allows a much softer and more fluidly creation of the cartoon than the cross-stitch (Jennifer Wearden, "A synthesis of contrasts", HALI, vol.59, pp.102-111). This can be well seen in our two examples: the drawing of the scrolling arabesques for example is curvy and there is no angular adjustment as is in the floral elements and in the S-motifs in the needlework. The birds and flowers in the present lot come across almost naturalistic. For three similar examples sold in these Rooms together with further details regarding the origin of the design please see 6 April 2006 - lot 107, 27 October - lot 56 and 15 April 2010 - lot 102.