A rectangular cushion cover embroidered in multicolored silk threads on a linen canvas ground in a design depicting the Biblical story of Abraham banishing Hagar and Ismael. Abraham and Hagar, with Ishmael holding her hand, occupy the center while Sarah and Isaac look on from a nearby tent. In a related scene at the left, Hagar is kneeling to pray and Ishmael is lying on the ground with an empty water jar nearby. In the Biblical tale their water and food supply are gone and they are perishing in the desert when an angel appears and tells Hagar that she and Ishmael will survive and that Ishmael will produce a great nation. In the embroidery, the angel appears out of a cloud in the upper left and a well with running water is seen in the background. This scene was adapted from an engraving in Gerard de Jode's Thesaurus Sacrarum Historiarum Veteris Testimenti published in Antwerp in 1585. A castle stands at the upper right. The foreground and center ground are filled with numerous plants and animals typical of the 17th century needlework including a leopard at the lower left corner, a stag at the lower right corner, a pond with a fish at the center bottom, a parrot on a cherry branch, stylized flowers including a Tudor rose, a beetle, a butterfly, a snail, a caterpillar, a bird on a branch and trees, including one harboring a squirrel. The sky is filled with a sun, clouds, and birds. These various animals and insects are depicted without regard for scale as was typical in 17th century English needlework. The embroidered portion of the pillow cover measures 13-3/4'H x 17-3/4'W and is worked entirely in multicolored silk threads in tent stitch, except for the antlers of the stag which are worked in knotted stitch. The needlework is extraordinarily fine with numerous hues and shades including: black or very dark brown, medium brown, dark taupe, light taupe, beige, brick red, pink or coral, dark gold, medium gold, light gold, cream dark green yellow-green, blue-green, dark blue, medium blue, light blue, pale blue, dark slate grey, medium slate grey, and light slate blue. The pillow is surrounded with a metallic bobbin lace of gold- and silver- colored threads which is approximately 1-1/2' wide and includes both flat and wrapped threads. The pillow is backed with the original slip cover, lined in salmon-colored taffeta with a backing of salmon-colored figured silk.