6 Ditto.

7 Detail of Foxglove design.

8 Colour plate--Detail from old Bed Hangings, dated 1696.

9 Detail from old Bed Hangings, dated 1696.

10 Large heavy leaf in work dated 1696.

10a Leaf showing seven different stitches.

11 Bed Hanging at Hardwicke.

12 Set of details (in colour) of Hardwicke design.

13 Set of details of Hardwicke design.

14 Group of Fillings.

15 Design of Bed Hangings at Powis Castle.

16 Characteristic leaf of best period.

17 Ditto.

18 Late 17th Century Fillings.

19 Fillings from Georgian copy of old example.

20 Stem of leaf in Solid work (colour plate).

21 Examples of different leaves.

22 Ditto.

23 Colour plate--_Terra Firma_.

24 Birds and Beasts characteristic of Jacobean design.

25 Ditto.

26 Ditto.

27 Ditto.

INTRODUCTION

To redeem the monotony of plain surfaces has ever been the aim of all
the arts, but especially that of the needle, which being the oldest
expression of decorative intention, has, from the earliest time, been
very dependent on its groundwork for its ultimate results. This is
particularly the case in embroideries of the type of what is commonly
known as Jacobean, where the ground fabric is extensively visible, as it
is also in that wondrous achievement, the Bayeux tapestry worked in
coarse wools upon homespun linen and therefore quite miscalled
"tapestry."

Inaccuracy in nomenclature is one of the stumbling blocks the student
encounters, and the tendency of the day to classify "styles" by the
restricted formula of monarchical periods is likewise misleading. No
style is ever solely distinctive of one reign, or even one century, the
law of evolution rules the arts as it does nature, there is always a
correlation between styles in art and circumstances of existence that is
productive of gradual changes of taste, therefore, pronounced evidences
in design are, actually, the culminating point in a course of combined
influences which have reached the period of individual expression.

Crewel work of the type of Jacobean, was the outcome of that earlier
wool embroidery that even in the zenith of fame of the Ecclesiastical
broderers still quietly went on its way.

In the middle ages, furnishing of rooms was scanty, and embroidered
hangings, cushion and stool covers provided the necessary notes of
colour and comfort; the wall hangings of the 13th century were of coarse
canvas decorated with a design