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Fine woollen choga with woven borders, c.1910

The choga was a loose fitting, long sleeved robe worn by wealthy men across much of India. They were most popular in Rajasthan and are most closely associated with that region. Both the word choga and the shape of the garment itself evolved from earlier Persian styles during a period when the Persian Ottomans greatly influenced the fashions and textiles of Indian courts. The loose fit allowed it to be worn over several other layers of clothing; with lightweight choga of embroidered muslins and silks being worn in summer, whilst a winter choga could be made of fine wool or quilted silk for additional warmth.

Choga were designed to display the wealth and status of the wearer and were usually made of fine quality fabrics decorated with intricately woven or embroidered borders and panels at the shoulders and centre back of the neck. This example is made of fine wool twill in a vibrant shade of green often found on Indian textiles. The applied borders and panels are of extremely fine handweaving with arcaded patterns contains trees and abstract paisley style borders. The garment is lined in bright yellow-green silk taffeta with facings and a narrow binding of magenta and ochre ikat woven silk. It fastens at the centre front with beautifully crafted thread wrapped conical buttons and thread wrapped loops with braid appliques on either side.

 This piece was selected as part of The Collection in 60 Objects to celebrate 60 years since the founding of our charity. Use the tag #rbks60 to see the other items we selected.

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Panel of laid work embroidery, worked by Rachel Kay Shuttleworth in 1921.

This panel of embroidery is worked in a technique known as laid work where long stitches are laid down first to fill in the shapes and then secured with smaller couching stitches. It was worked by the collection’s founder, Rachel Kay Shuttleworth, as a present for her parents Ughtred and Blanche on their golden wedding anniversary in 1921. In keeping with the ‘golden’ theme Rachel chose cloth of gold for the background fabric and had it framed in an ornate gilt frame made by the Medici Society.

The design of a vase, exotic flowers and a pair of peacocks was sketched out by Rachel’s cousin Valerie, Lady North and is taken from one of the carved & pierced parapets up in the galleries of St Marks Cathedral, Venice.

Rachel chose the laid work technique for this piece as it allows large areas to be covered relatively quickly. It was also a technique favoured by Lady North. The embroidery uses many colours of silk floss thread that Rachel arranged carefully to create beautiful gradients. In her notes about the piece, written many years later, she stated that “when [I] embd this, the range of Pearsall Stout Floss silks was wide & numbered some 400 shades - now in 1965 - there are only some 40 - so this cannot be reproduced”. The embroidery is further embellished with gold metal threads and iridescent beetle wings on the peacocks’ tails.

This piece was selected as part of The Collection in 60 Objects to celebrate 60 years since the founding of our charity. Use the tag #rbks60 to see the other items we selected.

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Sampler worked in wool on canvas, believed to be the work of Sofia Maria von Stockau c.1845-1852.

This elaborate sampler features many elements typical of woolwork samplers of the 1830s and 40s with pictorial motifs including small landscape scenes and realistic posies of flowers. Many of these would have been copied from commercial patterns originally printed in Germany or Austria. The centre of the sampler features an ornate floral alphabet that also appears in several samplers held in other museum collections; it can be identified as a pattern produced by the publisher L.W.Wittich in Berlin first printed in the 1830s. The sampler is mostly worked in very fine cross stitch with a few small areas of canvas work showing filling patterns.

Although the sampler does not feature a name or date, it is believed to be the work of Sofia Maria von Stockau. Sofia was born in 1834 and was the daughter of a German Aristocrat with the title Graf von Stockau, a rank equivalent to the British Count. In the original donation record the maker of the sampler is listed as “Countess Sofia Dubsky”. The sampler was probably made whilst she was studying at the Ladies of the Sacred Heart Convent School in Prague, an exclusive finishing school for aristocratic girls and young women. In 1850 Sofia married Josip Jelačić, a Serbian Lieutenant Field Marshall in the Austrian army and later Ban of Croatia.

This piece was selected as part of The Collection in 60 Objects to celebrate 60 years since the founding of our charity. Use the tag #rbks60 to see the other items we selected.

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Sample of Leek embroidery, silk thread on printed silk tussah, c.1880-1890.

Leek embroidery was a style of embroidery created and popularised by Sir Thomas and Lady Elizabeth Wardle through the Leek Embroidery Society. Thomas Wardle was an influential silk dyer with a particular interest in Indian silks and natural dyes that influenced his research and experimentation with dyeing processes and materials. He worked alongside several key members of the Arts and Crafts movement including William Morris. His wife Elizabeth was a highly talented embroiderer with a gift for interpreting designs and arranging effective yet subtle colour schemes. The couple founded the Leek Embroidery Society and School in 1879 and Elizabeth served as the School’s Superintendent. In addition to teaching embroidery and working on ecclesiastical and secular commissions, the Society also produced kits that could be bought by the public; allowing women to embroider the designs at home.

This sample of embroidery shows many of the characteristics typical of Leek embroideries. The fabric is a natural beige coloured tussah silk from India, which was the usual fabric of choice for Leek work. The kits supplied this fabric with an outline of the design pre-printed in a distinctive maroon colour. The embroidery is worked in loosely spun silk thread, dyed in a range of harmonious colours in natural shades including sage greens, soft indigo blues and warm madder based reds. The designs were often inspired by Indian, Chinese and Persian textiles. This pattern has some similarities with the embroidery found on Chinese sleeve bands and the couched gold thread outlining the floral motifs is another similarity to Chinese embroidery.

This piece was selected as part of The Collection in 60 Objects to celebrate 60 years since the founding of our charity. Use the tag #rbks60 to see the other items we selected.

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Paper ‘costume doll’, c.1850-1860.

According to the donor, a Mrs Benson of New Zealand, this paper doll was a cherished childhood toy reserved for special occasions. This perhaps explains why the fragile paper pieces have survived in such good condition. The base figure and set of four different outfits, complete with matching headwear, are all painstakingly hand painted. The base is of a young woman with a corseted figure, quilted petticoat, corset cover, stockings and boots. She has no arms as these are provided by each outfit, which allows for several different poses. The body has a narrow strip of wood sandwiched between the two paper layers that can be slotted into a small wooden block, allowing the figure to stand up.

The clothing is represented accurately and the styles date to the 1850s. The front and back of each outfit has been painted separately and then the two halves carefully cut out and glued together to allow them to slot over the base figure. A tiny envelope and notecard accompanying them describes each outfit and gives the corresponding headdresses as follows:

Striped dress with silk paletot } Black turban snood Flounced dress } Pink Bonnet Beggar with baby } Blue handkie round the head Ball Dress } Ringlets & feathers

This piece was selected as part of The Collection in 60 Objects to celebrate 60 years since the founding of our charity. Use the tag #rbks60 to see the other items we selected.

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An embroidered herb pillow or prayer book cover worked in silk and metal purl on linen with spangles and metal lace edging. Circa 1570-1600.

The front of this piece is mainly worked in minute buttonhole and detached buttonhole stitches depicting an assortment of stylised flowers, insects and birds. Many English embroideries of this period featured traditional British wildflowers such as carnations, daffodils, honeysuckle and columbine, all of which are on display here. The stems are created with small sections of metal purl, now much tarnished, arranged to create a chain-like effect. The tiny metal spangles dotted along the stem would originally have been much more numerous but many have been lost as the fine thread holding them down wore away over the years.

The reverse of the piece initially looks like an unfinished design drawn in ink, but was originally worked in an outline of backstitch using fine black thread, which has worn away in many places.

This piece was selected as part of The Collection in 60 Objects to celebrate 60 years since the founding of our charity. Use the tag #rbks60 to see the other items we selected.

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Beaded silk satin reticule belonging to Elizabeth Batts Cook, c.1810-1835

At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries the fashions began to favour a slimmer silhouette of dress and lighter fabrics. This made it increasingly difficult to wear traditional pockets (such as these) under the dresses and a new solution for storing and carrying small valuable needed to be found. Fashion’s answer was the ‘reticule’; initially so named because they were seen as a ridiculous fashion, they soon became an important accessory in any fashionable outfit. They were soon made in a huge variety of shapes and materials, including novelty ones celebrating discoveries such as pineapples or hot air balloons.

This reticule is slightly more reserved with its simple rectangular shape and drawstring closure. Despite this simple shape, the vibrant green satin, beading and extravagant tassels give the reticule a fashionable appearance. The tiny white and clear beads are arranged in a stylised design of fern fronds and leaves and the large silk cord and passementrie tassels add further embellishment.

The reticule originally belonged to Elizabeth Batts Cook (1742-1835), the wife of explorer and navigator Captain James Cook. They married in Barking on the 21st December 1762. After the death of her husband on Hawaii in 1779 Elizabeth remained a widow for the rest of her life.

The reticule was donated to the collection by Alderman Avice Margaret Pimblett JP OBE (1880-1965), who was a friend and fellow JP of Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth. Mrs Pimblett was the first female Mayor of Preston and was awarded an OBE in 1938 for her political and public services in Preston.

This piece was selected as part of The Collection in 60 Objects to celebrate 60 years since the founding of our charity. Use the tag #rbks60 to see the other items we selected.

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Details of an Amli shawl of fine cashmere wool, made in India c.1780-1800

This beautiful shawl is an example of an amli shawl, a technique where small woven pieces are hand sewn together and then further embellished with embroidery. Every step of the making process was labour intensive and required high skill levels meaning that amli shawls were highly prized luxury items. Unlike many other styles of shawl made in india during this period, amli shawls were mainly produced for the local Indian nobles and royal families instead of being exported commercially.

This shawl belonged to Rachel Kay Shuttleworth’s mother Blanche, Lady Shuttleworth, who used it as a ‘rug’ or thrown on her sofa. Rachel recalls on the items’ label that the edge had worn about 2 inches since she first saw it as a child so it was obviously well used. It is possible that the shawl was either sent or brought back from India by one of Blanche’s brothers who was stationed in India during his military service.

This piece was selected as part of The Collection in 60 Objects to celebrate 60 years since the founding of our charity. Use the tag #rbks60 to see the other items we selected.