Object Description
Georgian silkwork embroidery depicting a well attired young sheperdess carving the name ‘Tancred’ into the trunk of a a tree. Tancred is the beau in the 1581 Italian epic poem La Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso. He is beloved by Clorinda and Erminia, and often shown in art with one of them. Worked in silk thread on a silk ground, in a variety of stitches including raised work giving an effective three dimensional appearance. Sky and clouds hand-painted directly onto the silk ground. The white oval border is covered by a black oval border painted on the glass. Colours gold, cream, pale green, light brown, dark brown, light green, red and white. Framed in original wood and gesso frame with rippled, old glass. Mounting: The embroidery is tacked to a substantial wood stretcher frame covering most of the back, sealed with tape and finished with black paper and tape. (Dimensions given are just for the the visible picture and exclude the black border and frame, which measures 2.5ins all around.). Dimensions exclude the frame and slip.