53The earliest piece of silk in the British Library is an AD 4th
century fragment from the Temple of Nuran. It is amazing
the strength and durability of silk, whilst at the same time we
know how it shatters by using additives of colour and later in
the 19th century, salts were used to stiffen and make the silk
rustle. Apparently Queen Victoria liked to hear the silk of her
dress rustle, and so it became fashionable. Along with artificial
colouring and the salts, these eventually destroyed the silk and
made it shatter.
One of the most beautiful pieces so far conserved is a red (silk)
velvet and seed pearl ‘chemise’ book jacket embroidered with
gold and silver thread, c1610. It has the badge and motto of
Prince Henry Frederick (1594 – 1612).² A few years later, 1648,
there is a very different book covering for a Holy Bible. This
one is embroidered with a symbolic picture which indicates
just what the book contains.
In Britain, the 17th century was a turbulent time. When the
Civil War broke out in 1642 all public theatres were closed.
They remained so for 18 years until Charles II returned in
1660 and some theatres were allowed to open. Advertising
a production was usually done by hoisting a flag above the
theatre building to announce a production. However, all
was not well in London as by 1800 only two theatres were
allowed to perform ‘spoken drama’ in the winter, that of
Drury Lane and Covent Garden and the small Haymarket
Theatre in the summer. For a growing population that was
not enough. Despite this ban and restrictions on what could
be performed, theatres did spring up such as Sadler’s Wells
(close to a health-giving spring and pleasure gardens) and put
on a variety of entertainments from rope walking to ballet in
one performance. In 1843 Parliament passed a law revoking
all bans and restrictions and many new theatres emerged,
especially outside London.³ Plays could now be performed
anywhere. Rivalry was rife, and how to attract the public was
something new.
FEATURE // silk, theatre and dramaChemise book
jacket with badge
and motto of Prince
Henry Frederick
(1594 – 1612). Red
velvet, silver and
gold metal thread
and seed pearls.
Royal MS 12C VIII 1