Editing Blackwork (section)

==History==
European blackwork embroidery was preceded by Mamluk Egyptian running stitch embroideries and Indian Kasuti. The key difference between these techniques and European blackwork is that they are often more colorful. Kasuti sometimes uses multiple colors in a piece, and Mamluk embroideries typically were monochrome, but done in black, red, blue, green, and yellow.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kasuti - Indian Origins of Blackwork - Maya Heath - 2012 {{!}} PDF {{!}} Embroidery {{!}} Textiles |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/115672807/Kasuti-Indian-Origins-of-Blackwork-Maya-Heath-2012 |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=Scribd |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Egyptian Medieval Blackwork {{!}} PDF {{!}} Embroidery {{!}} Textile Arts |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/118270319/Egyptian-Medieval-Blackwork |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=Scribd |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Ladyhare.jpg|thumb|upright|Early Spanish blackwork: [[Juan de Borgoña|Borgoña's]] ''Lady with Hare'' wears a chemise embroidered at the neckline and on the sleeves, {{circa|1505}}, Toledo.]]

Historically, blackwork was used on [[chemise]]s, shirts or smocks in [[England]] from the time of [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]]. The common name "Spanish work" was based on the belief that [[Catherine of Aragon]] brought many blackwork garments with her from Spain, and portraits of the later 15th and early 16th centuries show black embroidery or other trim on Spanish chemises.{{efn|A.J.B. Wace "debunked" the Spanish origin in the 1930s,{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} but if the black trim on these [[File:Pedro García de Benabarre St John Retable Detail.jpg|thumb|chemises from the 1470s]] is embroidery, this would support an early Spanish origin.}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wace |first=A. J. B. |title=English Embroideries Belonging to Sir John Carew Pole, Bart |date=1932 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41830348 |journal=The Volume of the Walpole Society |volume=21 |pages=43–65 |jstor=41830348 |issn=0141-0016}}</ref> However, black embroidery was known in England before 1500. [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] in the [[Canterbury Tales]] describes the clothing of the miller's wife, Alison: "Of white, too, was the dainty smock she wore, embroidered at the collar all about with coal-black silk, alike within and out."

Black silk was bought to embroider sleeves for [[Mary I of England|Princess Mary]] in October 1543.<ref>''Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary'', p. 134.</ref> Blackwork in silk thread on linen was the most common domestic embroidery technique for clothing (shirts, smocks, sleeves, [[ruff (clothing)|ruffs]], and caps) and for household items such as cushion covers throughout the reign of [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]], but lost popularity as a technique by the 17th century.{{efn|See also [[1550–1600 in fashion]]}}

Historic blackwork embroidery is rare to find well-preserved, as the iron-based dye used to create the thread's black colour was corrosive, and there are currently no conservation techniques that can stop the decay.<ref>{{cite book | year = 1992 | first = Christa C. Mayer | last = Thurman | title = Textiles in the Art Institute of Chicago | isbn = 0-8109-3856-1 | publisher = Art Institute of Chicago Museum Shop}}</ref><ref name=vam>{{cite web|title=Linen jacket, 1615-20|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O137739/jacket-unknown/|publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum|access-date=26 October 2012}}</ref> Black embroidery silk from outside England, such as Spain, contained less iron in the black dye and so blackwork worked using non-English silk tends to survive in better condition.<ref>{{cite web|title=Smock, 1575-85. English, embroidery silks probably Spanish|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78732/smock-unknown/|publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum|access-date=26 October 2012}}</ref>

===16th-century blackwork===
<gallery>
File:Scorel venetian man.jpg|Geometric scarletwork, Venice, 1520s. 
File:Hans Holbein d. J. 056.jpg|Blackwork embroidery on both an outer and inner collar. Portrait of Simon George by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]], 1535.
File:Jane-blkwk-cuff-small.jpg|Blackwork embroidery in Holbein stitch. Detail of portrait of [[Jane Seymour]] by Holbein, 1537.
File:Bess of Hardwick as Mistress St Lo.jpg|[[Bess of Hardwick]] in geometric scarletwork, 1550s.
File:Mary Cornwallis George Gower.jpg|Blackwork sleeves with large free-stitched flowers filled with geometric patterns, under sheer linen oversleeves, and a counted blackwork forepart under her skirt. Portrait of Mary Cornwallis by [[George Gower]], {{circa|1580}}.
File:Elizabeth I Jesus College Oxford 1590.jpg|Elizabeth I wearing free-stitched blackwork sleeves, stomacher, and collar (beneath a sheer linen ruff), {{circa|1590}}<ref>Arnold, Janet,  ''Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd'', pp. 40–41</ref>
File:English cover, AIC.jpg|English blackwork cushion cover, late 16th century. [[Linen]] embroidered with silk and metallic thread, in a mix of counted and free-stitched stitches, including buttonhole, chain, double running, overcast, plaited braid, and square open work stitches. [[Art Institute of Chicago]] textile collection.
</gallery>