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Needlework Bed
Hangings Silk and wool on canvas, 82.5 cm, French, 18th century Cleveland Museum of Art |
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In the bizarre style of the
early eighteenth century, these panels reflect a fashion shaped by
Asian silks entering Europe through trade, their patterns
deliberately uneven and highly stylised, adapted from exotic woven
designs into European embroidery. Each surface shows the great time
and skill demanded by such work, the dense needlework standing as
clear proof of labour and expense. Such panels were hung around the
posts of a bedstead as part of a full set of hangings, both to
display affluence by ladies who received visitors in the bedchamber,
as was customary, and to keep in warmth once the fire had burned
low, turning the bed into a place of society as well as comfort. |
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