Medieval craftsmen: embroiders (review)

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Reviews 157 basis behind these narratives, the model of behaviour being presented is clearly distinct from conventional masculine ascetic models. One difficulty of dealing with saints' Lives of this kind is that we lack alternative source material by which w e might supplement the hagiographical record. It is difficult to know how far traditional masculine models have already 'interfered' in the transmission of a legend. It might be helpful to team about the nature of the monastic communities in which the memory of these independent women was preserved. Nonetheless, Salisbury does a great service by forcing us to look at familiar stories in a new light Constant J. M e w s Department of History Monash University Staniland, Kay, Medieval craftsmen: embroiders, London, British Museum Press, 1991; paper; pp. 92; 77 plates; R.R.P. AUS$22.95 [distributed in Australia by Thames and Hudson]. This short, but lavishly and effectively illustrated, volume is one of a series which the British Museum is producing on medieval craftsmen. The name is perhaps inappropriate for embroiderers, who were predominantly, though by no means exclusively, women. The object of the work is to provide a non-technical overview of the organisation of the craft, its designers and operators, its methods and techniques, its patrons and their relationship with their clients. This it achieves with considerable success. As the author acknowledges, constant use and a brisk market in second hand clothes, resulted in the ultimate destruction of most textiles, and apart from fragments found in the excavation of expensive burials, the few that survive are elaborate ceremonial vestments and hangings, heavily ornamented with gold and jewels. The claim that embroidery was almost the exclusive prerogative of the wealthy and ruling classes in the Early Middle ages, white intrinsically likely, given the high labour component in embroidery work, where, for example, four women had to toil for three and a half years to produce an altar frontal, is essentially unprovable. Humbler stitching if it existed, is gone forever. Even fine work was often recycled. As it reached the end of its useful life, it was stripped of its jewels andre-usableappliqued embroidered motifs, and burned to recover the gold and silver content of the thread. Embroidery was not just a work for professionals, however. Amateurs, including noblewomen, and even queens, might be involved. In a noble or royal household, the lady's attendants were expected to be often engaged in stitchery. This, a commonplace of literary convention, was appropriate employment for them in a well-ordered lady's household. Inevitably we can recover most about the large-scale professional undertakings. For large objects, a large workshop l^g Reviews would be required and we know most about the workshops attached to royal households, which were under the supervision of the armourers. As an organised craft embroidery existed in London and Paris from the thirteenth century and statutes survive for the Paris guild showing the unusually long apprenticeship and something of the organisation of the labour. Since the materials were expensive (linen, silk, silver and silver-gdt, gold thread and jewels), and by analysis of the contracts for work which survive, it would seem that most work was done to order. The material was provided by the patron and the design, on whose artistry depended the impact of thefinalwork, was usually done by artists, individuals with a mastery of spatial harmony. Examination of surviving work shows how it was done. For quick effects the court used painting on silk. The patterns on which the embroiderers worked were often also white silk, which was embroidered over, or parchment, until in the fifteenth century, thin paper made the paper pattern possible. The embroiderers skills and practices remain very much untouched to this day. Patterns were pricked and transfened from patterns, or tailors chalk was used. Embroidery frames were common and applique work, drawn thread work, and quilting widely popular. The stitches used (split stitch, laid and couched work, cross and plait stitch, running and double running stitch, back stitch and stem stitch) are all still used by modem embroiderers. Sybil M . Jack Department of History University of Sydney Tavernor, Robert, Palladio and Palladianism, London, Thames and Hudson, 1991...