A cord-quilted cushion
Object number: ROMGH.1999.350
Type: Cushion
Technique: Embroidered
Material: Textile
Width: 59cm | Height: 59cm
Production date: 1920 - 1968
The repeated knotwork motif on this cushion is copied from one on the Pictish Dunfallandy stone, in Perthshire. It’s in the lowest panel of the cross shaft. This is one of many similar knotwork designs that George Bain used in Methods of Construction. They include examples from the cross-slabs at Rosemarkie, Ross-shire, as well as St Vigeans and Meigle in Angus.
Whoever made the cushion has created a sculpted textile of knotwork. The raised design has been worked using a method called Italian (or corded) quilting. Two layers of fabric are used. Parallel lines are stitched through both layers, then cord or wool is threaded between them. It cleverly reflects the three-dimensions of the cross-slabs.
See Bain's Celtic Art, Methods of Construction page 41 Plate F
Author: Barbara Pritchard
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