English Embroidery from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1580-1700: Twixt Art and Nature

New York: Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture/ Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008. Hardcover. VG (Boards are lightly edgeworn and scuffed or smudged; interior is clean; binding is solid.)/VG (Light edgewear, scuffing, smudging.). Black cloth with gilt lettering on the spine; grey and glossy photo-illustrated DJ with white and yellow lettering; xix, 308 pp.; richly illustrated. "This book centers around the Metropolitan Museum of Art's preeminent collection of embroidered objects from England's late Tudor and Stuart eras. These seventeenth-century embroideries, over eighty works in all, include samplers, gloves, headgear, purses, raised-work panels, boxes and mirrors, portrait miniatures, lavishly embroidered Bibles, and a spectacular burse made to hold the Great Seal of England. In a series of essays, the book explores the important role of embroidery in the history of textiles and decorative arts and also offers new insight into the role of women in the production of decorative arts. Expert scholars discuss embroidered furnishings, fashion accessories, biblical narratives, and pastoral imagery to create a superb, comprehensive overview of embroidery during this tumultuous period in English history."-- Jacket.