Catalogue of a collection of old embroideries of the Greek islands and Turkey

Abstract

Contributors whose names are marked thus are Members of the Club, home-embroidered frocks of native silk and linen in favour of dresses of the Italian and French brocades then fashionable. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the Napoleonic wars seriously injured the Levant trade and about the same time the invention of the power-loom in the west by cheapening production spoilt the market for the hand-spun and hand-woven Levantine silks. Then the islanders ceased to grow silk because it did not pay, cut down their mulberry trees and planted figs or almonds instead. When they ceased to grow silk they naturally had no silk to spare for vii b considered as intermediate between the Cyclades and the Southern Sporades. Paros, Tenos, and Samos rank as North Greek Islands, because in them a North Greek dialect is spoken, and by their embroideries, too, they can be classed in the same group. x GREEK EMBROIDERIES A. THE NORTH GREEK ISLANDS The embroideries from this area are bed spreads, pillow cases, and towels or kerchiefs. The bedspreads, which are oblong in shape, are composed of three widths of linen, fastened with needlework and not with ordinary seams. The embroidery is worked all round the four sides, the pattern being, as a rule, more elaborate on the long sides than on the short sides (cf. No. 120 in Case G). Floral patterns of an oriental type are characteristic of this group, and of these the two most prominent are a spray with a hooked stem and a flowering plant or a bunch of flowers in a vase. In addition patterns of ships, large birds, sultans, men, and similar devices are often employed (cf. Nos. 116, 123, 124, 126, 131 in Case G). Pillow cases are either single or double. In a single pillow case only the upper face is worked (cf. No. 130 in Case G and the framed pieces Nos. 136 and 137); in a double one both faces are worked (cf. No. 117 in Case G). The patterns, which are of the same general type as those of the bed spreads, are, when geometric, usually confined to a border, but when floral or animal worked all over the pillow (contrast Nos. 128 and 132 in Case G). Towels are usually worked with a border at each end (cf No. 124 in Case G), but there are some examples which are worked all over. These, perhaps, were intended for kerchiefs, and should rather be included under costumes. The patterns on them do not differ from those on the other embroidered objects. A darning stitch is the commonest stitch in use in this class of embroidery. The provenance of all the embroideries of this style is by no means certain. A number of pieces of the kind roughly described above can be attributed to Skyros with absolute certainty. There are, however, other pieces like them (e.g., Nos. 116, 121, 122), which in motive and design resemble Skyros work. The varieties are so considerable, and the probability that such embroidery comes not only from Skyros, but also from other islands xi given up in favour of cross stitch which is easier {cf. the pillow cases Nos. 72-79 on the Model Bed and the valances Nos. 69, 70 als...