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Assisi Work: Noah's Ark

(Updated September 3, 2000)

(16 1/2 inches x 10 inches)

Assisi embroidery is an Italian style that derives its name from the town in which it originated. The nuns of the town, the Poor Clares, most likely developed the style. The development began in the thirteenth and the fourteenth centuries and gained increasing popularity in the sixteenth century when it began to expand into the secular community (Leszner 10). Assisi work has the following distinguishing characteristics:

1. Voiding: The background, not the foreground, is worked.

2. Specific Colors and Materials: The freely drawn figures are outlines with brown or black silk floss on a white linen ground. The monochromatic background is worked in red, green, or occasionally yellow.

3. Specific Motifs or Themes: The early secular embroidery featured motifs of mythical beasts and grotesques. The ecclesiastical embroideries used bird or animal pairs, designs inspired by stone carvings or woodcuts, and Biblical scenes. St. Francis is believed to have introduced the style and motifs when he returned from the Holy Land in 1220 AD. The existence of both the regular and long-armed cross-stitch in other countries, such as Germany and England, support the plausibility of this legend. Because St. Francis had a special fondness for animals, especially birds, animal and bird motifs are highly prevalent.

4. Specific Stitches: The dark outlining stitch is the Holbein stitch. The filling stitch is counted and it is normally long arm-cross stitch. Occasionally, the filling is regular cross-stitch, the chessboard stitch, or the Italian cross-stitch. (Bath, Gostelow, and Leszner). I found one example of sixteenth century Italian embroidery that meets the characteristics of Assisi work with the exception that it the background is filled with the plait stitch (Siegler).

The Noah’s Arc scene that I have completed is a partial re-creation of a late sixteenth century piece on display in the Art Institute of Chicago (Bath 66). I reproduced the picture by freehand. Initially, I modeled my work very carefully upon the original. As I grew more confident in my work, I began to vary the pattern to match my tastes. I reduced the number of birds because I felt that the original was too busy. I changed the border to have more room for the animal pairs of Noah’s Ark. The last change is the elimination of the little crosses that dotted the figures. I thought that the crosses detracted from the unique negative effect of Assisi work.

Until the early part of the seventeenth century, Assisi work was limited to practical applications such as furnishing decoration, linens, or cushions. Because of this, the finished piece is a cushion. I was careful to complete the project by hand in period materials. I have seen not seen any references to indicate how cushion work was completed, so I chose to surround the embroidery with black velveteen in order to set of the voiding as much as possible. I used cotton velveteen because it more closely resembles period velvet. Additionally, I thought that the denser and shorter pile would be a better choice for a cushion. Because the linen is a loose weave, I hemmed it with a vary narrow rolled him as the nuns of Assisi originally finished their work. Finally, the pillow itself is stuffed with feathers.

Bibliography

Bath, Virginia Churchill. Embroidery Masterworks: Classic Patterns and Techniques for Contemporary Application. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1972.

Cornelius, Rosemary, Peg Doffek, and Sue Hardy. Teaching Needlecraft: A Handbook for the Beginning Instructor. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1979.

Eaton, Jan. Around the World In Cross Stitch. Vermont: Trafalgar Square, 1992.

Endacott, Violet M. Design in Embroidery. New York: Bonanza Books, MCMLXIII.

Goodchild, Sabina. Cross Stitch and Sampler Book. New York: Sterling Publishing Company, 1985.

Gostelow, Mary. A World of Embroidery . New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1975.

Harris, Karen. “ Cross-Stitch Embroidery in the Middle Ages and Rennaissance .” Tournaments Illustrated #127 Summer 1998: 6-7.

Leszner, Eva Maria. Assisi Embroidery: Old Italian Cross-stitch Designs. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd., 1988

Micheli, Vima de Marchi. “A Fragment of Sicilian Cross-Stitch” Piecework: March/April 1998.

Miller, Joyce. “ An Embroidered Box from Medieval Germany, ” http://www.doctorbeer.com/joyce/emb/westbox/westbox.htm

Mitchell, Timothy J. “ Long-Armed Cross Stitch Embroidery .” http://home.flash.net/~wymarc/AStitchoutoftime/cross/cross.htm

Morris, Dorothy. Modern Assisi Cross Stitch. Singapore: Kangaroo Press, 1942.

Siegler, Susan. Needlework Patterns from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1976.

Smith, Elly. “From a Medieval Italian Town: Assisi Embroidery” Piecework: May/June 1999

Snook, Barbara. The Creative Art of Embroidery. New York: Hamlyn, ???.

Society for Creative Anachronism, The Known World Handbook: Third Edition. Milpitas: Society for Creative Anachronism, 1992.

(Copyright 1999-2003, Katherine Estep Stephenson)