AN EARLY 18TH CENTURY FRENCH CONVENT WORK 'COLIFICHET' CIRCA...

Hammer

£120

AN EARLY 18TH CENTURY FRENCH CONVENT WORK 'COLIFICHET' CIRCA 1715, double sided embroidery in coloured silks and metal threads on paper, depicting a monstrance in gilt thread, upon a cloth covered altar, with large flowering branches to either side, all beneath a draped canopy, embroidery 8cm high, paper 11.5cm x 9cm
unframed, wrapped in paper upon which is written in ink 'Nuns work.....Dearest mothers gift JM'. See illustration
N.B 'Colifichet' is a French word meaning trifle or bagatelle. It was a word used by nuns in the 17th century to describe their very fine embroideries that were worked on both side of a piece of vellum or later paper.