Beschreibung:

Two Elizabethan Needlework Fragmentary Panels of Bed Hangings from Cassiobury House Late 16th century Embroidered in gros and petit point, depicting vignettes of pastoral life and exotic animals including an elephant, crocodile and a monkey. Provenance: Sir Charles Morrison, Cassiobury House, Watford, Hertfordshire. Knight, Frank & Rutley, The Contents of Cassiobury Park, June 21, 1922, , the eighth day of the sale, described from the Blue Bed Room: 'A Hepplewhite Four-Post Bedstead, 4ft with ... wool needlework hangings of floral design and interlaced borders ... and a green and yellow striped silk bedspread, trimmed with fringe.' Sotheby's London, July 8, 1960, : 'FINE NEEDLEWORK. Two large "U"-shaped Panels and a single Panel, the upright panels appliqué with pale golden satin in the shape of Ionic capitals and the cross panels with cartouche-shaped satin panels enclosing twenty-nine extremely rate panels of gros and petit-point embroideries of imaginative designs.' (followed by description and measurements); sold to Perrotti for £45. Sotheby's, London, July 2, 1965, : 'THE CASSIOBURY PARK BED HANGINGS. A set of thirteen late 16th Century Bed Hangings embroidered in gros and petit point on yellow silk and worked with panels depicting rural pursuits of Elizabethan England' (followed by description of three oblong valances. five upright hangings in the form of Ionic pillars. and five other panels in the form of scrolls . Yellow silk backing probably renewed in the 18th century and the panels now mounted on brown velvet, framed - with measurements)'; sold to H. Stern for £200 $560. Purchased from the above, Henry Stern Antiques, 329 Royal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, July 2, 1966. The colorful needlework motifs worked in wool and silk on the bed hangings from Cassiobury House date from the later sixteenth century when Sir Charles Morrison was furnishing his Tudor house. They are a rare survival of a popular pastime among ladies of this period who embroidered small 'slips' in cross and tent (half cross) stitches, sometimes in different sizes ( gros and petit point ) to apply to furnishing items such as cushions, chair covers and bed hangings of silk and/or velvet. This type of Elizabethan embroidery was mainly floral, including large leaved trees and laden with ripe fruit, often based on illustrations in herbal books, while others were hunting scenes or images from country life dotted with the occasional exotic animal, taken from other published works in circulation. While the yellow silk satin and brown velvet on which they have been re-applied are not original the slips, which have been overworked in places, might have been used in a similar manner to create attractive and eye-catching panels, the Ionic columns and scrolls introducing a strong classical theme, not often seen at this date. The backing velvet was probably originally green as noted for the 'green and yellow striped silk bedspread, trimmed with fringe' listed in the 1922 Sale Catalogue of the house contents. C Property from the Estate of Leonard and Elaine Silverstein, Bethesda, MD