COLLECTING SILKWORK EMBROIDERIES
Elegant and highly collectable, antique needlework artworks embody both cra smanship and creativity
There’s something u erly
captivating about silkwork embroideries. Each ower – every face – has been so meticulously stitched by hand that as your eye scans the intricate pa erns and pictures for meaning, you soon nd you’re as intrigued by the individuals who stitched these decorative items as you are by the compelling and colourful scenes they’ve depicted.
Seventeenth-century embroideries do come onto the market from time to time, but they’re rare and command huge prices. Ben Tulk, dealer at Madelena Antiques and Collectables, says that ‘stumpwork’ (raised embroidery) caskets are always desirable. ‘They date from around 1630-1650 and can fetch £50,000 at auction,’ he reveals. ‘A stumpwork casket is the holy grail of silk embroidery.’
Small embroideries from the late 18th and early 19th centuries are much easier to get hold of. ‘Silk embroidered pictures became very fashionable in the late 18th century in both England and America,’ says specialist dealer Stephen Huber. ‘Compositions were varied and included bucolic scenes and historical happenings. These beautiful pictures were created by young women, usually aged between 10 and 20, at schools and academies.’
They were mostly created by middle and upper-class girls because of the expense of both schooling and materials. ‘Normal working people didn’t have time to spend doing this kind of thing,’ points out Ben. ‘Some were improvised ‘free style’ designs, but lots of them were bought as kits – you’d get a pa ern and a piece of silk pre-painted with certain background elements like the sky. The embroiderer would then stitch on top to complete the scene,’ he adds.
Tips For Collectors
As they were all stitched by di erent people, there aren’t speci c makers to look out for like there are in other areas of antiques collecting.
‘You can pick them up for nothing when they’re damaged,’ says Ben. ‘The silk backing is very fragile so it’s o en split or stained – a less-thanperfect one can be as li le as £20. The price goes up as the condition gets be er. The subject, rarity and complexity of the design all add to
‘Silk embroidered pictures became fashionable in the late 18th century.’