Loading

The effect of blackwork is cleverly achieved in this forehead cloth from about 1625-1650. Instead of using a single colour of silk thread on linen, two threads of mixed white linen and black silk thread are used. These are embroidered in satin stitch and give the effect of speckling found in blackwork.

The central motif, the Pelican in her Piety, was a motif taken from emblem books. These were a popular type of literature in the 16th and 17th centuries, which associated pictures and symbols with mottos and moral poems. The Pelican in her Piety relates to a myth about a pelican feeding her young from the blood of her breast when she could find no food for them. This myth and images of it were associated with Christianity from the 2nd century AD and they figure frequently in emblem books.

By the 1620s, the Pelican in her Piety appears in embroidery pattern books along with the other motifs - animals, insects, fish and human figures - seen on this forehead cloth. Given the lively and naive mixture of images in the design, it is hard to tell if the Pelican was chosen for its symbolism.

Details

  • Title: Forehead cloth
  • Creator: Unknown
  • Date Created: 1625/1650
  • Location: England
  • Physical Dimensions: Height: 6.75 in, Width: 14.75 in
  • Provenance: Given by J. L. Nevinson
  • Medium: Linen, linen thread, silk thread; hand-embroidered

Additional Items

Get the app

Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more

Flash this QR Code to get the app
Google apps