Featured Trying to find age of this embroidery

This is a flea market find, one of several. Framed embroidery. This is silk on silk. The silk is I believe called candlelight silk...more of a beige color than in the pic. The piece is florals with scrolling design. It looks early to me....the frame and silk embroidery show great age. Perhaps this was a pillow cover?? Measures, 18" x 19.5"

I appreciate any info you may have.

 

I'm surprised, with the wood backing to the frame, that there seems to be very little discoloration to the base material. Or is that a trick of the photo and lighting?

The picture of the back does appear to show something light colored at the edges, though. Is that the fabric or something else?

 

What fabric is it made of?

Debora

 

He said silk in the OP.

 

The colors look awfully bright for a framed piece, which presumably would have been displayed. How did you determine what the fibers are?

 

something that was valued ...so it was cut up and framed.....???

 

Fireplace screen?

 

Agree with Komokwa ... it hasn't been sympathetically framed ... and as Bakersma says, too, the backing is very clean. A few super close-ups of the needlework might be fun. It's one of those times you really wish you could hold it and take a real look.

 

phew, what a dreadful terrible horrible frame job. I suspect a lot of moisture damage as well. I'm not bothered by the brightness of the thread because if this was hung, I think it was hung in a cave.

I would so badly want to take it out of its frame and give it some much needed TLC, but if the base is silk and it has rotted... the slightest wrong move can end in disaster. A warning given by someone who still remembers the small unremarkable silk she destroyed many many years ago.

I suppose it could be a modern piece, but that's not the vibe I get.

 

The ground really looks like cotton to me. Not a judgment to be made via pictures, but it does.

And I'm wondering if there's some kind of batting (or just another layer of fabric) behind it.

 

No expert but I might say perhaps a piece of a bedspread or a quilt but the silk fabric makes that questionable. There seems to be a bit of quilting and applique and this bit looks like a complete panel which might be later joined up? I like the notion that it had sentimental value for the owner so a piece / panel was kept and framed.

 

I don't see any applique or quilting. Maybe it's an issue with the photos?

For the size the piece is, my guess as to what it is is right with @Daniel oshaughnessy -- pillow topper.

On the old eBay boards there were amazing needlework peeps that would have this sorted in a jiffy. I miss learning from them!

 

Here are close ups of the front and back. I took it out of the frame and it is silk. It is layered on a printed fabric. The silk is strong with staining to the edges. It is super old as it smells like it is two hundred

 

I posted some close ups of the embroidery

 

When I shot the close ups it looks like there is cotton batting under the embroidery.

 

Been looking online and the styling of the flowers and the overall design looks very 18th century or very early 19th century. I plan to have it framed in acid free materials to preserve it.

 

Those raise bits are called "stumpwork." And yep, the ground does appear to be silk (as you suggested).

Does it have a printed design on it? Some photos suggest yes, but I'm not sure what I'm seeing.

 

The printed fabric is the backing...looks like a fine printed muslin

 

Is the print completely different from the pattern? Like something someone just tacked on for a backing? Or is it the printed pattern what was actually embroidered?

I don't see the level of detail I would expect in an 18th century piece... I would have thought late 19th - early 20th. BUT. I am not an expert in the field.