te use
of tapestry, which first became a manufacture of England in the reign of
Henry VIII. It is easy to conceive that English women would readily
seize upon the idea supplied in tapestry and adapt its designs to that
of embroidery. It is certain that hangings for the old four-post beds
were embroidered, as in the inventory of Wolsey's great palace at
Hampton Court there is mention of 230 bed-hangings of English
embroidery. Nothing of this remains, so that its style is simply
conjectural; and we can only suppose these hangings to have been
replicas of the magnificent velvet and satin hangings, covered with laid
or couched gold and silver threads, such as Catherine of Aragon would
bring with her from Spain. This also would account for their absolute
disappearance. The value of the gold and silver in embroidery has always
been a fertile source of wealth to the destroyer of ancient fabrics,
while many embroideries worked only in silks have escaped this
vandalism.

V

EARLY NEEDLEWORK PICTURES AND ACCESSORIES

[Illustration: EARLY "PETIT POINT" PICTURE.

Late Sixteenth Century.

(_S.K.M. Collection._)]

V

EARLY NEEDLEWORK PICTURES AND ACCESSORIES

"Petit point"--old list of stitches--Stuart
bags--Gloves--Shoes--Caps.

Towards the end of James I.'s reign it is supposed that the earliest
needlework pictures appeared. They were obviously literal copies of the
tapestries which had now become of general use in the homes of the
wealthy, being worked in what is known as "petit point," or "little
stitch." This stitch was worked on canvas of very close quality, with
fine silk thread, one stitch only being taken over the junction of the
warp and the weft of the canvas instead of the "cross stitch" of later
days. Very few of these specimens are left of an early date. A panel,
measuring 30 inches by 16 inches, in perfect condition, and dated 1601,
was sold at Christie's Rooms this year for L115. The purchaser, Mr.
Stoner, of King Street, sold it next day at a very considerable profit.

At this period the workers of these pictures did not draw upon Biblical
subjects for their inspiration (with great advantage to the picture, it
may be stated). The subjects were either fanciful adaptations from real
life, with the little people dressed in contemporary costume, or dainty
little mythological subjects, such as the "Judgment of Paris," "Corydon
wooing Phyllis," with most absurd little castles of Tudo