Editing Bradford carpet

{{Short description|17th century carpet in England}}
[[File:Bradford_table_carpet_VA_T134-1928_unstraightened.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The Bradford carpet]]
The '''Bradford Carpet''' is a [[canvas work]] [[embroidery]] made in the early 17th century (ca. 1600–1615) that originally belonged to the [[Earl of Bradford]] at [[Castle Bromwich]].<ref name="Digby">Digby 1964, p. 102, plates 46 and 47</ref>

The carpet measures {{convert|16|x|6|ft}}. In the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]] it covers an entire wall. However, it was made neither for wall nor floor, but as a table covering.  Its {{convert|17|in|mm|adj=mid|-wide}} border was designed to hang down over the edges of a table, and it would have been removed or covered with a linen cloth when the table was used.<ref name="VA">V&A Museum, Life in Tudor and Stuart times</ref>

The carpet is worked with [[silk]] [[embroidery thread]] in [[tent stitch]] on a [[linen]] ground.<ref name="Digby"/><ref>Levey & King 1993, p. 23</ref> The stitching is very fine (400 stitches/inch, 62 stitches/cm<ref name="VA" />) and was worked in at least 23 different colours.<ref name="Digby" />  The tension of the tent stitches over time has distorted the shape of the carpet.  It is characteristic of professional canvas work popular for furnishings in the [[Elizabethan era]].<ref name="VA" />  The field design is a [[grape vine trellis]].  The border, thought to represent human progression from a wild state to civilisation,<ref>Levey & King 1993, p. 16</ref> depicts a variety of country pursuits set against a [[pastoral]] [[landscape]], described as "perhaps the finest range of [[Genre works|genre scenes]] to come down to us from Elizabethan times".<ref name="Digby" /> A [[manor house]], [[shepherd]], travelling vendor with his packhorse, lords and ladies, [[hunting]] scenes, [[milkmaid]]s, [[miller]]s, [[water mill]]s and [[windmill]]s are all shown.<ref name="Digby" /><ref name="VA" />

==Notes==
{{commons category|Bradford table carpet}}
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite book
  |last=Digby 
  |first=George Wingfield 
  |title=Elizabethan Embroidery 
  |year=1964 
  |publisher=Thomas Yoseloff 
  }}
*{{cite book
  |author=Levey, S. M. and D. King
  |title= The Victoria and Albert Museum's Textile Collection Vol. 3: Embroidery in Britain from 1200 to 1750 
  |year= 1993
  |publisher= Victoria and Albert Museum
  |isbn= 1-85177-126-3
  }}
* {{Cite web
  |url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/bg_teachers_packs/printer/supps4.htm
  |title=Victoria & Albert Museum Supporting Information: Life in Tudor and Stuart Times
  |access-date=28 June 2009}}

{{Rugs and carpets}}
{{embroidery}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradford Carpet}}

[[Category:British rugs and carpets]]
[[Category:Embroidery in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Individual rugs and carpets]]