Mediterranean Embroideries

The Fitzwilliam Museum’s collection contains an impressive range of textiles, including an important group of expressive and vibrant embroideries from the Mediterranean that were collected during the mid-twentieth century." Helen Ritchie, Senior Curator Modern & Contemporary Applied Arts

This selection showcases a range of textiles from across the Mediterranean world and explores the embroidery practices that connect them. Mostly created by women, these lively and decorative textiles provided a means of self-expression for women and girls of all ages. Generation after generation of makers handed down their needle skills, creating pieces that reflected personal tastes, social standing and community affiliation.

In the main, the embroideries were made for use in the home, as cushions, towel ends, bed tents, or as clothing. Common features included ships, vases, fantastical beings, humans, birds and even words, while other motifs denoted regional differences. Some patterns travelled, appearing on other objects such as ceramics, from opposite ends of the Mediterranean. Although most were made in a domestic environment, a small number were made by professional women embroiderers.

This selection begins to tell the intertwined stories stitched into these detailed and delicate embroideries. It was curated by Dr Deniz Turker and Carol Humphrey for a display at the Fitzwilliam Museum (18 April–19 November 2023), supported by the Yunus Emre Institute.