Happy Saturday! Here are two of my favourite 17th-century beadwork baskets, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The one on the left shows King Charles II and Catherine of Braganza with allegories of the four continents. The one on the right, which shows a courting couple, was worked by Sarah Gurnall in 1659. Most surviving beadwork from the period lacks names and dates.

#textile #beadwork #earlymodern #history #needlework #materialculture