Indian embroidery is done on silk, velvet, cotton, wool and leather. Most famous of all is the embroidery on wool, both loom-wrought and by the needle, of Cashmere, as shown in the Cashmere shawl. Muslin is embroidered at Dacca, Patna and Delhi. Rich embroidery in colored silk and gold and silver is made in Hy derabad and other places in Sindh. The em broidery of Nauanager and Gondal in Kathiwar (of which Cutch gets the credit) resembles that of Resht on the Caspian. Gold is also used in Cutch for embroideries in the Persian style of Isphahana and Delhi. The gorgeous gold-em broidered velvets of Lucknow, Gulbargah, Au rungabad and Hyderabad in the Deccan, used for canopies of state, umbrellas of dignity, elephants' cloths and state-housings, have re mained unchanged from the earliest periods of Indian history; but their sumptuous gold-scroll ornamentation resembles Italian design of the 16th century. The Portuguese used to send satin to India to be embroidered in European designs and Oriental workmanship.. Of such exquisite material were made many of the beau tiful coats and waistcoats worn in the European courts in the 17th and 18th centuries. The em broidered native apparel of Cashmere, Amritsar, Lahore, Delhi, Lucknow, Murshedabad, Bombay and Vizagapatam are highly prized.
Whether embroidery originated in China or India is a disputed point. The Chinese claim to have practised it 3,000 years ac. India also boasts similar antiquity in this beautiful art. All ancient nations carried em broidery to 'perfection; for the art of the needle was developed before that of the brush. Thousands of years before the Bayeux Tapestry (q.v.) was worked with the needle to chronicle the Norman Conquest (1066 A.D.), if Homer may be believed, °Helen embroidered in her palace a large cloth, white as alabaster, with the story of the conflicts in which Trojans and Greeks contended for love of her." Embroidery was, therefore, not only an artistic enrichment of material, but it was used for centuries as a means of record and commemoration. Sacer dotal vestments, draperies and curtains for temples, robes of ceremony, clothes for ordinary use and household articles were embroidered with appropriate symbols and designs in col ored wools, silks and threads of gold in every country of civilization. The Egyptians excelled in embroidery, rivaling the gorgeous work of the magnificent Babylonians. The Jews learned the art from Egypt, as is proved by the veil that Moses had made for the Holy of Holies °of fine linen embroidered with cherubim of blue and purple and The Greeks attributed the invention of em broidery to Athene; and a magnificently em broidered peplos hung behind her statue by Phidias in the Parthenon, and was renewed every five years. Persia was also famous for
this art. Strabo speaks of the impression made upon the Greeks by the aerial and delicately embroidered fabrics, as well as the heavy and magnificent ones. Phrygia was so celebrated that all splendid embroideries were known in Rome as °Phrygian?' Roman emperors were not behind others in patronizing the art. Even more sumptuous were the Byzantine emperors, whose robes were stiff with gold and of enormous weight with woven stitches. The favorite scheme of Byzantine embroidery con sisted of pairs of birds or animals (often en closed in circles), separated by the sacred tree of Persia, a kind of palm —the °tree of life, This Byzantine style dominated ecclesiastical embroidery throughout Europe during the Middle Ages when monasteries and convents had special rooms for male and female em broiderers. Embroidery was also one of the most important subjects of instruction, ranking in dignity with painting and sculpture. Superb articles were worked on linen grounds with worsteds, silk and gold threads. Sometimes the entire material was covered with em broidery in the style of the miniature paintings in the illuminated manuscripts of the time; and it is noticeable that the great period of church embroidery, from the 12th to the 14th century, is also the great period of the illuminated manuscripts. In these °paintings with the needle;' as contemporary writers call them, the English were the most celebrated. Their special work was known as Opus anglicum. It became so famous that great lords had to have speci mens in their collections and many churches throughout Europe received gifts of this artistic production. The Syon Cope, now in the South Kensington Museum, is the most celebrated specimen in existence.
Embroidery was lavished not only on copes, chasubles, dalmatics, mitres, gloves and shoes for church ceremonials in the Middle Ages, but was also used to decorate the costumes of men and women and for draperies and house hold decoration. Beds were magnificent with embroidered draperies and counterpanes. Nor was it sufficient to embroider one set of bed and window hangings, but several sumptuous •sets of hangings° were produced to suit the changing seasons and various occasions. Hang ings for tents were also marvelously em broidered and so were the armorial bearings of the knight on his surcoat and on his ban ners. Much of this work was done in the con vents and monasteries and by the groups of embroiderers supported in wealthy homes and much of it was done by the accomplished and noble ladies. We know this from allusions in contemporary literature and in the detailed and descriptive entries in inventories and wills.