Winner of the 2008 R.L. Shep Ethnic Textiles Book Award given by the Textile Society of America.

This book centers around the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s preeminent collection of embroidered objects from England’s late Tudor and Stuart eras. These seventeenth-century embroideries, some eighty works in all, include samplers, gloves, headgear, purses, raised work panels, boxes and mirrors, portrait miniatures, lavishly embroidered Bibles, and a spectacular burse made to hold the Great Seal of England. In a series of essays the book explores the important role of embroidery in the history of textiles and decorative arts and also offers new insight into the role of women in the production of decorative arts. Expert scholars discuss embroidered furnishings, fashion accessories, biblical narratives, and pastoral imagery, to create a superb and comprehensive overview of embroidery during this tumultuous period in English history.

Melinda Watt is assistant curator, Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Andrew Morrall is professor, Bard Graduate Center. He specializes in Early Modern Northern European fine and applied arts.