Book cover, Italy, 17th century

Embroidery was much used for the bindings of religious books or presentation copies in the 16th and 17th centuries. Bookbindings were sometimes worked by skilled amateur embroiderers. The best known examples are a series of books with embroidered bindings made by the future Queen Elizabeth I as New Year gifts for her father, Henry VIII, and his last wife, Katherine Parr. However, the materials that have been used here - metal thread, strip and purl - are difficult to work with. When applied in embroidery of this quality, they almost always indicate professional work.

This binding showes two scenes from the Old Testament, the Sacrifice of Isaac, and Jonah and the Whale. Book cover in white silk satin with embroidery in metal thread and coloured silks. The cover is in poor condition, and now is in three separate pieces, each mounted for support on board. T.395:1 is the spine. The other two parts are the front and back covers (with no indication of which is which). They both have the same layout, of an oval picture with an elaborate raised-work frame in silver gilt thread, with a lion's head at the top and a shield at the base, now too disfigured to interpret. Flowers fill the corners outside the oval.