Stump Work

Stump work in which portions of the designs were padded to give a raised 3-dimensional effect was extremely popular from about 1625 to the end of the century. This type of work originated from raised ecclesiastical embroideries from Ital and Germany of the 15th and 16th centuries. Embroidered silk and metal threads combined with a taste for realism led to the development of an exaggerated form of raised work. Keats best describes the magical, naïve appeal of Stump work.

"The poor homespun where an were broiderd tigers with black eyes,
And log tailed pheasants and a rising sun,
Plenty of posies, great stags, butterflies,
Bigger than stags a moon with other mysteries"

The needlepoint pictures seems to appear in the reign of Charles I, although Elizabethan and Jacobean pictures are said to exist, the costumes in the earliest pieces are unlikely to date before 1630. Amongst the earliest pieces are Stewart embroideries worked in Tent Stitch on canvas. The stitching became more elaborate, some portions being worked with silver thread, others raised. The raised areas were achieved by pressing on the reverse with heated irons and filling the hollows with cut up silk and embroidery paste. Sometimes the raised area was padded with hair or wool. A wooden form was sometimes used and worked over on the surface, card and parchment were also used in this way.

Charming early examples are worked in long and short stitch, crewel stitch' and 'feather stitch.' These Stuart pictures were usually flat with little or no ground visible. Some were worked on a satin ground with silver spangles.

By 1650 the stitched pictures had become known as 'Embroidery on the Stump' or raised work. The sisters of Little Gridding were once credited with this innovation although this style of embroidery probably developed spontaneously in many different centres.

'Stump work' is said to have derived from stamps or engravings. These would have been widely available as a source of inspiration in the 17th century. It appears to be an entirely English from of embroidery. The subjects were the same as the flat work pictures. Portraits of Charles I and Henrietta Mana, figures from the Old Testament, mythical birds and beasts, foliage, buildings, ponds and features of the English landscape were all popular themes.

In time the Stump or raised work became extraordinary elaborate and eccentric. The figures began to resemble small dolls dressed in rich and elaborate costume of the period with real hair, wigs and beards. The principle figures were often covered with lace stitch. Grassy banks and bushes were represented by unravelled gimp and knotted silk. Gold and silver thread were used for highlights. Button-hole stitch needle lace, bullion knots, beads, seed pearls, coral, paste, diamonds, spangles and mica were all utilised to give a three dimensional effect. Other contemporary pictures were worked entirely in beadwork, often with three dimensional flowers.

Stump works were worked by the amateur for pleasure using a simpler technique than 'Slips.' Stylised flowers placed at random on a ground of cream silk. Later examples have a central figure. Favourite subjects became the 'Judgment of Solomon', 'Solomon and Queen of Sheba', 'The finding of Moses', 'Ester and Ahasuerus', 'David and Bathsheba' and 'The Judgment of Paris and Metamorphoses.' Later pictures were portraits within a central oval.

Stump work pillows were trimmed with silver lace or braid. The silver and gold lace was sometimes produced by the lace makers of Galloon in Switzerland using gilt thread spun from gold and silver.

By the mid 17th century Stump work was used not just for pillows and pictures but also caskets, book covers and mirror frames. Stump work is characterized by the naïve drawing of the central figures in a landscape with disproportionately large animals, flowers, insects and birds. There is such as strong similarity of design of Stump work that it is possible that the patterns came from the same source, perhaps a travelling draughtsmen or designer. An address of a Covent Garden dealer has been found on a stump work, so they may have been purchased drawn out from stores, where one could obtain other required materials for embroideries. More probably the needle woman would have copied them herself, perhaps from drawings, engravings or stamps, or from pieces worked by others. The pieces were worked by young girls, if they were copying other designs this may explain the naïve quality of the drawing.

Girls were married at a comparatively young age. Stump works were produced by quite young children, some as young as eight. Certainly there is a very child like perception of proportion. The charming Jacobean buildings, often depicted, could well have been the home of the child who worked the piece. These substantial properties reflect the prosperity and station of the needlewoman. The complexity of the design and stitches reflected the girls skill as a needlewoman. An important part of a daughters education of a 'good' family was to become an accomplished needlewoman. Girls would graduate to Stump work after working their samplers. The Stump work would then become part of her dowry and passed on to become prized heirlooms. Perhaps this explains why so many have survived when so few can have been worked