EMBROIDERY

(0O.Fr. embroder, from bord, border), figured work in gold, or silver, or silk thread, wrought by the needle, up6n cloths, stuffs, or muslins. In embroidering stuffs a kind of stretching-frame is used, because the more the piece is stretched the easier it is worked. The art was common in the East in very ancient times. The Jews appear to have acquired it from the Egyptians; Homer makes frequent allusion to it; and Phrygia was celebrated for its embroidery, which was in great demand at Rome. The 138 \ EMBRYO-SAC Nineveh mural reliefs in the British Museum show A yrian robes with floral ornaments, and a relief (now in the Louvre, Paris) from the palace of Darius I shows Persian robes with embroidery. The Anglo-Saxons had a Continental reputation, and from the eleventh to the sixteenth century the art of pictorial needlework was of the highest importance both as a recreation and as an industry. Embroidery is commonly divided into two cla es: white embroidery applied to dre and furniture, in which the French and the Swi excel; and embroidery in silk, gold, and silver, chiefly in demand for ecclesiastical vestments. The Chinese, Hindus, Persians, and Turks excel in such work.—Cf. Christie, Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving.