Cleveland Museum of Art

Man's Cap

Date

late 1500s

Medium

embroidery; silk and silver gilt thread on linen

Culture

England, Elizabethan Period, late 16th century

Department

Textiles

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

According to Elizabethan embroidery scholar Jacqui Carey, the construction and design of this man’s nightcap is typical of the period. The embroidery on this nightcap—worked with both black silk thread and silver metal thread (metal strips wrapped around a white silk core) onto a plain weave linen fabric—features daffodils, birds, and fruit set within coiling stems and foliage. Five different stitches are used, including Elizabethan plaited braid stitch, chain stitch, stem stitch, straight stitch, and Elizabethan spider’s web stitch. The arrangement of the motifs is the same in each quadrant, and similar motifs are repeated around the brim. In places, the ink lines of the design are visible on the fabric, though most are covered with the embroidery.

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