Embroidered panel

This embroidered panel is typical of raised-work embroidery stitched by teenage girls from wealthy families during the mid 17th century. The portrayal of Charles II and his wife, Catherine of Braganza, represents the height of contemporary style and reflects the desire to forget the austerity of the Commonwealth period. Most of these pieces are deliberately non-logical, whimsical, and exuberant. Lions and leopards are only slightly larger than the birds and rabbits with whom they peacefully coexist. There appears to be no intention in this piece to convey a moral or tell a story; it is instead a virtuoso demonstration of the pleasures of needlework.