An English needlework slip

Circa 1600

With bunches of grapes hanging from a cutting of vine with leaves and tendrils, worked in silk in tent stitch and edged with metal thread, and applied to a panel of 17th century terracotta linen. The motif is comparable to the applied grape vines on the velvet ‘Garden of Eden’ valance now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of the Irwin Untermyer bequest, object no. 64.101.1284.

The needlework slip 14cm (5½”) high and 18.7cm (7⅜”) wide, in a frame 27.1cm (10¾”) high and 32.1cm (12⅝”) wide.