Goldwork

Gold has always been the symbol of wealth, affluence and status, no matter where one is living in the world. It has captured human attention since time immemorial, and being the noblest of metals, gold has been utilized in many applications.

Throughout history, goldwork has been used in a variety of ways in fabric decoration. It can be used in embroidery and appliqué, weaving variegated patterns made luxurious in gold thread. Shimmering patterns can be embroidered using gold and silver thread that may be interspersed with silk threads and precious stones. These materials convey opulence, distinction and power.

Dating back almost 2000 years, only royals, nobility, and those of great wealth could afford such magnificence in garments, robes, domestic furnishings and religious embroidery. Whilst the history of metal thread embroidery goes back so far into the past that its origins are lost, it’s widely believed that goldwork embroidery originated in China. The craft then spread to Asia, Persia, India, Middle East, and the ancient civilizations of Assyria, Babylonia, and Egypt. It also reached North Africa, Spain, Italy and then came to Western Europe, Great Britain, Scandinavia and North America.

Goldwork is one of the oldest embroidery techniques using metal threads to create articles of great beauty and sumptuousness. The earliest examples employed pure gold and silver. The metals were flattened and wound around strands of animal and human hair. However, the gold and silver were both very brittle. Later, they were wound around silk, paper, animal gut and parchment. This process was originally done by hand, which required patience and great skill and the cost for such threads was extremely high. However, goldwork embroidery is no longer the privilege of religious institutions or the wealthy, as there are now affordable substitutes, even though real gold is still used and this mostly comes from Japan the specialism encompasses many techniques and materials. As well as pure gold and silver, the embroiderer now has a choice of relatively inexpensive imitation gold, silver and copper threads to work with, along with a myriad array of colored metal threads, all in many different sizes. This art form is particularly prized for the way the light plays on it, which is influenced not just by the richness of the metal thread used, but also by the variety of metal threads available and the techniques used.

Opus Anglicanum (or English work) 

stretched from 1050 to 1380 and was at its height between 1250 to 1350 (The Great Period). It was a time where English Embroidery excelled and its reputation extended far beyond England. In Italy and Spain (especially) many fine vestments bear unmistakable evidence of an English origin. Some articles may have originally been offerings to Rome, and redistributed to churches elsewhere. In 1246, Pope Innocent IV reportedly had admired the gold-embroidered vestments suggesting to the abbots of the Cistercian order (in England) his desire to have some gold embroideries sent to him. This indicates that English work was becoming better known on the continent.

In 1295 the Vatican Inventory listed more examples of Opus Anglicanum than any other type of embroidery. Most of the embroidery was carried out in London workshops by master embroiderers, and were costly. Completed pieces had considerable value thanks to the gold, silver and silver gilt* threads, seed pearls and semi-precious stones that adorned them. Its subsequent decline has been linked to the Black Death, where many professional embroiderers lost their lives to the disease. The disease (ironically) is said to have travelled from central Asia along the silk route, finally reaching England in around 1348. The Syon (1300-1320) and Butler Bowden copes are some of the finest examples of this period. The Syon cope (taking its name from the monastery of Syon) during the dissolution, was taken by nuns who had wandered through France, Spain and Portugal, before returning the cope to Great Britain in 1830, when the nuns returned from Lisbon. The cope shows a goldwork technique known as “underside couching” which creates a ‘hinge’ that gave the work flexibility.

It was not unusual for worn out articles to be burned to recover the gold. An example was Archbishop Lanfranc’s worn out chausables and copes that were reduced to ashes in 1371-73 “for the sake of the gold in the embroidery”.

Medieval goldwork (12th – 15th century)

A period of decline which some texts refer to as “Decline and Revival 1330-1530” followed. It was felt that designs and skills were of lesser quality, including ecclesiastical embroidery. Having developed a marked style, differing considerably from earlier periods, figures become shorter and clumsy looking. Twisted columns were being replaced with square pillars. Devices such as Fleur-de-Lys, Tudor roses and others of floral character, were used, with arrangements of radiating lines, dotted with spangles, this added considerably to the lightness and contrast between the gold embroidery and the darker ground fabrics. During the 15th century the practice of embroidering motifs separately, to be then cut out and applied to silk or velvet ground, were then further enhanced by couching gold and silver threads to the ground material, around the motifs.

Or Nue

Early in the 15th Century Or Nue (also referred to as Italian shading or shaded gold) soon surpassed other goldwork techniques. This form of Goldwork embroidery, where pairs of gold thread are couched in place with different coloured silk threads to form patterns or create pictures. The technique itself is one of the most time-consuming of techniques, but it allowed embroiderers the opportunity to imitate painted pictures. Even Raphael was commissioned to create embroidery designs. Often depicting figures or narrative scenes, these were deliberately stitched so that the metal shows through. The density and placement of the silk over-stitching makes the design. The entire design, background and foreground, is stitched, using small upright stitches.

Tudor, Elizabethan and Stuart goldwork (16th – 17th century)

This period, famous for the reformation, witnessed a notable decline in the demand for ecclesiastical work but also sadly saw the destruction of many pieces. Many of the pieces were either destroyed to recover the gold or recycled for other uses, such as cushions (a must have accessory of the day) and interior decoration. Fortunately, some examples still exist for us to see today, thanks to those who risked their lives smuggling the same to the continent.

With that said, however, the then industry evolving around personal adornment, interior decoration and costume, saw Goldwork embroidery remain in favour, with the technique lavishly used as a means of displaying wealth. Much of the elaborate work was executed by professional houses with emphasis put on the skill of the professional male embroiderer, who would have had to have served upwards of an 8 year apprenticeship, before being allowed to work on such valuable pieces. Some of the larger private houses may also have had their own team of embroiderers. One historical article detailed over 400 ounces of gold having been removed from one of Henry VIIIs robes, alone. This period also saw ladies and their aides working embroidery for their own occupation.

Bess of Hardwick and Mary Queen of Scots were both accomplished needlewomen, and completed several pieces of goldwork – these survive today and can be seen at both Hardwick Hall and the Victoria & Albert Museum (UK). The Hardwick embroideries consisted of two shades of gold (silver-gilt*) wound around cores of orange or pale yellow, and silver wound around a core of white. There is also mention of file and pearl, as well as metal ornaments such as domed spangles (ranging from 4mm to 1cm in size), figure of eight and pear shaped spangles and tiny- ring like metal beads. Amateur and domestic embroidery also gave rise to new techniques, having been adapted for execution by the non-professional. Supplies were sold by travelling salesmen, as well as materials imported from Europe.

This period also saw the introduction of printed pattern books. Processes for producing metal thread had also advanced, resulting in finer threads being made which also saw lace being made with gold thread, as well as sweetbags, bookbindings and caskets. The latter end of this period saw a fashion for unpicking the metal threads from costumes and uniforms. A phrase coined as “drizzling” was the occupation of the wealthier lady to raise a little pin money, with tales of uniformed gentleman losing their gold adornments whilst watching performances, where ladies would carry a small workbag containing scissors and a drizzling tool (it had a sharp triangular blade) to quickly snip away at the stitches that held the gold to the garment. Social gatherings were reportedly arranged for just this purpose.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/fullHtml/10.1145/3527927.3532809                           Other areas to research for Goldwork

Stardate 6/16/23- Goldwork is becoming its own animal in my Needlework book.  This may start encompassing several pages.

8/17/23 - I have been supporting Ann-Juliette Genevieve on her Patreon site while studying the aspects and construction of Goldwork and the best way to approach design.  I did acquire two additional kits from Ann-Juliette which one was named Lady Jane Grey (Tudor) and I loved the geometric design of the piece.  In conversing with Ann-Juliet I asked about the exemplar that she used for reference and she referenced a photograph which of course had me going down a new rabbit hole.