Continuing our look at these three wonderfully embroidered armorial tablecloths on exhibit at Frederiksborg castle, we come to the second one.
Alas, here the explanatory sign ends up telling us very little about the coats of arms around the sides of the tablecloth.
Sophie Staverskov's silk tablecloth from around 1650
Light olive green silk with satin stitching and chain and contour stitching. In the center there is an oval laurel wreath with single flowers, in which Orpheus plays on the lyre at the foot of a tree. In a wood sit birds, and around Orpheus stand wild animals mesmerized by his music, including a unicorn, an elephant, a lion and a deer. Along the sides are coats of arms framed by laurel wreaths with red flowers. Scattered throughout the center lot is a quantity of flowers with short stems, red, yellow, white and blue, including cloves, tulips, cherries, lilies and lily of the valley.
(Once again, please click on an image to go to a larger, more detailed photograph. You really cannot appreciate this work from the thumbnails here.)
So ... they don't tell us to whom these quartered coats of arms belong, which is a shame, since Ms. Staverskov clearly went to a lot of work to embroider them all the way around the tablecloth, as you can see:
All in all, an amazing piece of the embroiderer's art! Anyone up for trying this at home?
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