A 17th-century Raised-work Box

This box from the Embroiderers' Guild Museum Collection was also probably the work of a young embroideress. Made in Britain, almost certainly between 1650 and 1680, the top of the box is decorated with the three-dimensional embroidery techniques that were popular at that time. These stitch techniques are now known as raised-work, but have been more commonly, but less attractively, called stumpwork, which is in fact a 19th-century term.

The three-dimensional quality of the embroidery was achieved by the use of particular techniques and materials. These included a considerable amount of detached buttonhole stitch, often worked over padding or supported by wires, couched coiled wire (purl), the use of little carved pieces, such as the hands of some of the figures on the Guild's box, and the addition of seed pearls and beads. Fluffy chenille threads, and spirals and twists of silk threads, frequently used in these embroideries, added texture to the work and were often used to form the little grassy banks on which the figures stand. Some embroidery was worked directly onto the ground satin, but many motifs were stitched separately and applied.