EMBROIDERY. - Needlework on a pre-existing ground, clearly distinct from lace or filet, whose ground is executed subsequently to hold the ornaments together. The thread used for embroidery is linen, wool, silk, cotton, silver, or gold; the stitches are innumerable.
The stitch itself (point couché), which covers the canvas with threads of silver and gold, securing them with silk in a barely visible manner, is among the oldest and also among the most widespread until 1100, along with the stem stitch and the chain stitch, the latter being very easily executed and therefore used to depict garments, architectures, and animals. In the 19th century, gold is laid down without interruption by silk thread to imitate the effect of miniatures, creating a smooth surface. The split stitch, in which the needle divides the thread, is used to render the modeling of faces. From the mid-14th century onward, a new stitch is used which the French call *or nud*, employed for the most precious embroideries where the entire ground of the canvas is covered with gold, entirely veiled by silk threads so as to achieve the delicate effect of softening the glitter. An example of this stitch, which we call “veiled,” is admirably provided in Italy by the paraments of St. John in the Museum of the Works of the Cathedral of Florence. At the end of the 14th century, the “serrated stitch” is in use, imitating weaving and tapestry and characterized by great perfection and regularity.
No certain information exists regarding the origin of embroidery, but ancient writings, sculptures, and graffiti from the greatest civilizations of the East—Assyro-Babylonian, Persian, Syrian, and Egyptian—document its existence. Among the oldest known examples is the Egyptian band from the Museum of Antiquities in Turin, dating before the 12th century B.C.; a figured embroidery on purple wool in the Hermitage in Leningrad, likely of Greek origin and dating perhaps to the 4th century B.C., is also noteworthy. Both in Greece and later in Rome, tradition, based on Pliny, holds that embroidery arrived via the Phrygians. Among the oldest embroideries are also the Chinese ones, with symbolic motifs; from these derives later Japanese embroidery, which from the 7th century onward is adorned with an exceptional variety of motifs and vivid colors. Coptic embroideries date to the 6th century, displaying the influence of classical art; these are now scattered in museums throughout Europe, largely originating from Ahmim, the city that produced the greatest number of these celebrated works. Important, though limited in number, is the group in the Vatican Sacristy, donated by the Franciscan Missions of Egypt.
For the art of embroidery, the Middle Ages mark the period of greatest development, evidenced by remarkable works; even then, as in earlier times, the East was the richest center for the propagation of this most refined art, characterized by strongly outlined black contours, the use of dedicatory and didactic inscriptions on long ribbons, and an abundance of minute ornaments. The design is treated in a simple manner without seeking shading or relief. Many precious examples of this style survive, especially used in “tobale” (altar paraments from the museums of Cluny, Halberstadt, Rubesberg, Lüne, Wienhausen, Prague (the antependium of Anagni)). A singular example of medieval embroidery is the mantle known as that of St. Henry in the Treasury of Bamberg; the origin of the embroiderer, a certain Ismaele, remains uncertain.
The luxury of Eastern embroideries spread to France with the Crusades; the most glorious period was the 13th and 14th centuries (antependium of the Hôtel-Dieu in Château-Thierry), but the 15th century also boasts splendid examples (embroidery of the cathedral of Angers). From the 15th century onward, frequent exchanges and relations developed with Italy. Charles VIII took Italian embroiderers with him, and so did Catherine de’ Medici, who summoned to France the famous pattern designer for embroidery, the Venetian Federico Vinciolo. With the 16th and 17th centuries, a vast production of volumes on embroidery flourished, and this art increasingly developed from the church to palaces, while sacred symbols gave way to profane, mythological subjects; the use of floral motifs became more pronounced, and classical motifs of faces within ornaments often reappeared. One of the most important examples of secular art remains the famous medieval Bayeux Tapestry, which narrates the story of the Norman conquest of England in nearly seventy meters of embroidered linen with naive Romanesque realism; tradition holds that it was executed entirely by Matilda for her spouse William the Conqueror.
Flanders also produced remarkable works, especially from workshops in Bruges; these are closely linked to painting (chasuble from the Treasury of Vienna, perhaps inspired by Van Eyck himself; paraments from Grunbergen in the Musée du Cinquantenaire in Brussels). Spain, under Arab influence, distinguished itself for the richness of its ornaments, gold, and pearls; famous is the “Mantle of the Virgin” of the Sagrario.
From the 15th century onward, numerous names of celebrated embroiderers have come down to us, including Giacomo Rainaldo of Mantua, Geri di Lapo of Florence (antependium with stories of saints in Manresa in Catalonia, in *opus florentinum*), the Veronese Paolo di Bartolomeo (antependium of St. John in Florence), Antonio di Giovanni Fiorentino, the Venetian Piero di Giovanni; among women, Antonia Peregrina, Caterina Cantona, and the Venerable Tommasina Fieschi. Embroiderers, like master glassmakers, relied on other artists whose designs they translated more or less faithfully; among the most active pattern designers are Baldinucci, Alessandro Paganino, Niccolò di Aristotle, and even Iacopo Bellini. Many embroidery designs are attributed to great artists such as Pollaiuolo, Botticelli, Raffaellino del Garbo, Raphael, Niccolò dell’Abate, Pierin del Vaga, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
With the 18th century, France took the leading position in the art of embroidery; the delicate graces of the Rococo wrought wonders of preciosity, especially in men’s and women’s clothing and in domestic furnishings: among the most famous are the *petits points de St-Cyr*. French supremacy lasted until the Empire, after which Italy regained its place with respect to 16th-century motifs. In the 19th century, despite the industrialization of this art with machines (the first dating to 1830 in St. Gallen; in Switzerland), local schools with distinctive regional characteristics flourished in Italy and abroad, and embroidery became exclusively women’s work. — See pls. XLV–XLVI.
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EMBROIDERY — Detail of an embroidered antependium in coral (17th century) — Palermo, National Museum.
The most important examples of Byzantine embroidery are found among the furnishings of church palaces; one of the best known is the paraments of St. Caesarius in Arles at the church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Major (501–542). Treasures of this art of distinctly Byzantine derivation are the liturgical embroideries preserved in Moldavia, in the Putna Monastery; precious is the embroidery found in the tomb of Gunther, Bishop of Bamberg (1062), now preserved in the Treasury of that Cathedral, depicting Constantine on a white horse between two symbolic figures of queens, in a composition worthy of a Byzantine museum.
Di grande valore per la purezza di disegno che si ispira alla pittura, i lavori ad ago di altre regioni d'Italia dell'Italia centrale il r. del Museo di Orvieto che segna con una tecnica rozza un delicatissimo disegno di probabile pittore senese; il mirabile palotto del Tesoro di Anagni con la Vergine e storie di santi disegnato da pittore affine al Torriti o al Cavallini (Toesca); e del sec. XIV, ma ancora fortemente bizantineggiante e di una maestosa purezza di motivi, quel capolavoro dell'arte del r. che è la dalmatica di Carlomagno del Museo sacro vaticano.
Dall'Inghilterra nel '200 e '300 provengono i r. detti ad «opus anglicanum»; su stoffe di lino i r. in seta, oro e argento narrano episodi del Nuovo Testamento e vite di santi disegnando figure austere entro quadrilobi intrecciati (piviali di Sion e di Londra), entro circoli (piviale di Anagni), entro archi acuti (piviali di S. Giovanni in Laterano a Roma, di Pienza, Bologna, Toledo, ecc.). Un poco più tardo lo stile del pivialle inglese del Victoria and Albert Museum di Londra in seta rossa con l'albero di Jesse, cui una ricca flora fa da sfondo alle figure, in sostituzione dei consueti motivi architettonici.
Nei r. della Germania detti «ad theuthonicum» sono
e orientali sono per lo più anche le tinture tecnicamente perfette con le quali si coloravano le sete smaglianti. Gli esempi più importanti di r. bizantino si trovano tra i parati delle chiese; uno dei più