Leather Embroidery pre-1625 CE

Criteria for inclusion

• + Items generally before 1625 CE.
• + Provenance: Europe, Scandinavia, Britain & Ireland, the Middle East, Northern Africa, Western Asia.
• + Any leather artifact that has direct embroidery or decorative stitching in silk, linen, wool, or metal (e.g., gold, silver, tin).
• + Evidenced by surviving threads and/or holes that (probably) once held thread.
• + If in doubt, it is included... some authors' definitions and use of the word embroidery are more inclusive than others.

Criteria for exclusion

• - Appliqué, inlaid leather, other embroidered material such as silk or velvet that is itself attached to the leather.
• - Repairs made to parchment or vellum manuscript pages.
• - Later related items: many pieces of embroidery on velvet or silk over leather are known; these include Ottoman quivers and bow cases, English gloves, various kinds of footwear, book coverings, etc., from 1600 on.
• - "Gilt-leather embroideries" (from Scandinavia; thin strips of gilt leather overlaid on seams between woolen design elements).
• - "Lamellar embroidery" that uses wide metal strips woven through slits in leather (e.g., from the grave of bishop Severus of Prague).

Table of helpful terms

When researching scholarly articles, it can be helpful to have a table of words and phrases that might be useful in searching them for relevant discussion. So far, articles in the following languages are included. Note that this is only a basic Google translation - actual words used can vary greatly in any given language.

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