Bearing Cloth

Anonymous

ca. 1600 · Silk satin embroidered with silver and gilded silver metal-wrapped threads · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Needlework from England was prized throughout Europe, and was one medium for which the Tudors felt no need to import talent. This magnificent satin embellished with a broad border of elaborate, ornamental embroidery was almost certainly a bearing cloth- used to wrap and carry an infant during baptisms and other ceremonial occasions- from a particularly wealthy, possibly noble or even royal, household. Pomegranates were symbols of fecundity popular in English design since Henry VIII's first wife, Katherine of Aragon, introduced them as her personal badge. Here, they are interspersed with irises, lilies, and pansies topped by peacocks and caterpillars, all shimmering with spangles.

Artist

Anonymous

Date

ca. 1600

Medium

Silk satin embroidered with silver and gilded silver metal-wrapped threads

Culture

British

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Purchase, Friends of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Gifts, 2016