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Berlin Wool Work Slippers with Geometric Design

1894-1904

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Unknown

Berlin Wool Work Slippers with Geometric Design

1894-1904

Physical Qualities Cotton ground, wool embroidery threads, leather soles, Left: 11 3/8 x 3 5/8 in. (28.9 x 9.2 cm.) Right: 11 1/2 x 3 5/8 in. (29.2 x 9.2 cm.)
Credit Line Gift of David Park Curry, Baltimore, in Honor of Anita Jones, Curator of Textiles
Object Number 2013.313.1-2
Pair of slippers with needlepoint uppers and flat leather soles. Needlepoint pattern consists of repeating green stripes 1 3/8 inches wide with white, red, and purple geometric design followed by 3/8 inch stripe of medium brown with a light brown squared meander pattern. The slippers were embroidered flat, then cut and seamed at the back of the heel and attached to a leather soles. Each slipper has a somewhat rounded toe, a slightly scalloped vamp, and straight sides. Five full green stripes and a minimal amount of two additional stripes are included in the upper portions of each slipper. The needlepoint is worked in dull wool threads using 12 stitches per inch (in one direction). [Crossing stitch not counted and not readily seen]. The slippers are unlined, so the ground, which appears to be Penelope fabric, is visible. Attachment to sole appears to be glued rather than sewn.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2013; David Park Curry, Baltimore
Vintage Textile, #2342,Child's Berlin Woolwork Slippers, c. 1840, $950. www.vintagetextile.com/new_page_707.htm, 9/27/2013.

Neryalla Taunton, Antique Needlework Tools and Embroideries, 1997, pp. 172-173, color place 186, PL 11, pattern for Berlin Work slippers.

Barbara Morris, Victorian Embroidery: An Authoritative Guide, Mineola, N,Y.: Dover Publications, Inc. 2003, unabridge republication of work originally published in "The Victorian Collector Series" by Thomas Nelson & Sons, NY in 1962 under title "Victorian Embroidery, p. 58, illus 10 Slipper Top. Berlin Wools and Silk on Canvas. Embroidered for the first Duke of Wellington about 1850 but not made up."

The Ladies Magazine, 1872.

Maker

Unknown

2000-01-01 00:00:00–2000-01-01 00:00:00

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