Material:  Silk w/ silk embroidery floss

Size:  23  x 22 & 1/4 inches

Quantity:  1

This amazing antique textile, c. 1890 - 1910, was assembled as a pillow cover, however it appears that it was never actually used.

I am really not sure what floral motif is depicted in this incredible embroidery, some kind of very full flower, possibly a double Dahlia, Poppy, Begonia or Peony.  To give you an idea of scale, the large flower measures an impressive ten plus inches across.

The colors in the silk embroidery floss are absolutely luscious shades of pink, rose, red, green and silvery white, with multiple hues in each color utilized for definition and shading.
The front embroidered silk panel is a lovely, soft celadon green.  The back is a wonderful pink, both panels obviously selected to coordinate beautifully with the large embroidered floral vignette.

The amazing embroidery was skillfully executed using period padding and layering techniques, with directional satin stitch and another stitch I believe may be called Kensington Fill.  This, combined with careful integration of graduated colorful silk floss, created masterful shading, texture, depth and dimensionality.

I have not seen many Society Silk embroideries of similar scale, nor many using the amount of padding shown in this example.  Every little ruffled flower petal has been padded and/or layered.  Also, look closely at the middle of the large flower.  The padded work and layering here is really incredible.  In addition, the leaves and stems have received as much attention as the flowers and buds, thus they also appear very realistic, with wonderful texture and aesthetic detail.

Unfortunately, due to the proximity of bright natural light and the shimmery quality of the silk fabric and silk floss, our pictures are a little glary, which caused some of the subtle shading effect to be less obvious in our images than actual.  I can only say that if you like what you see in our pictures then you will really love this piece when you have it in your hands.

This pillow cover is seamed on three sides, with one end left open for feather or fill insert.  Green front cover shows a selvage edge at this opening.  The pink back has a raw edge here, but it was folded and hand stitched to finish, so opening is ready to be whip stitched closed after pillow insertion.  The pink back panel was made from two pieces of silk, nicely seamed together.

This antique textile is in extremely nice estate condition, with no holes, tears, splits, snags, etc.  As stated, it appears to have been carefully stored and never used.  The silk floss embroidery shows no detectable loss or damage.  We did note that on some of the padded areas the floss has shifted slightly to the side, mainly on the ruffled petal tips.  To remedy, it just takes a little patience to carefully push the floss back into place, which for the most part I have done, however storage and shipping may cause this to occur again to a minor degree, so just be ready to make a few cosmetic adjustments to the floss, as noted.
I am extremely happy to report that the silk panels remain very strong, with no evidence of shredding or disintegration.
Only two very minor issues noted.
First; approximately three of the hand done edge finish stitches on the pink silk, at insert opening, have come undone.  The thread is there, the silk just needs to be folded over again and these couple of stitches replaced.
Second; I believe that this piece was stored with the embroidery turned to the inside, which is why we find no fading, but there are a few very small, light discolored areas on the pink silk back, the largest being apx. 3/4 x 1/2 of an inch, the next apx. 1/8 of an inch round, with a few more smaller, but similar specks.  As I said these are very light, like water marks-spots, so may remove with cleaning, (since this piece is in unused condition I will leave the cleaning choice/decision to buyer) or just ignore as they are quite minor and on the reverse as well.  I tried to photograph, see my pen and pencil pointers in last image, but they are so light that they are just barely detectable.
I will simply summarize condition by adding that while I have collected antique textiles for many, many years only rarely have I encountered silk needlework in this exceptionally nice condition.
Also, at almost two feet by two feet this is a very large piece and once filled with an pillow insert it will likely look even larger and more impressive, or it could easily be de-constructed and used for other purposes, such as a center piece, framed as art or incorporated into other projects.
Really a wonderful, very nice quality example of early silk embroidery work, featuring a lovely aesthetic floral motif, executed in a very feminine color palette with amazing skill and grace.

Divine Large Antique Society Silk Work Embroidered Pillow, Cover, Panel

$ 239.00