Antique's Roadshow presenter Hilary Kay was delighted when she was presented with a never before seen collection of Elizabethan textiles dating back 500 years. The textiles were presented during the episode filmed at Wollaton Hall in Nottingham.
The discovery included a bedspread along with two pillowcases that had been sewn by Elizabeth I and her ladies-in-waiting. It was led by 'extremely rare' ivory silk satin sleeve and sleeve support.
The items belong to the Wollaton family who built the historic hall in 1588. Until the discovery of the textiles, no examples of sleeve supports were known to exist. The farthingale sleeve is made from a thick cotton material called fustian, stitched with 14 casings of linen each containing a hoop of baleen, also known as whalebone.
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The support, known as a farthingale sleeve, has remained in almost perfect condition along with the satin sleeve it originally supported according to BBC.
A replica of the sleeve was made for academics to study as it is too rare to be modelled and was placed into secure storage. It was used to support the very large gown sleeves, worn by Queen Elizabeth I in The Ditchley Portrait at the National Gallery.
Author and lecturer Kay added: “Exceptional. It is such an exciting moment to be faced with something from the 16th century which is in such incredible condition.”
Textile historian Ninya Mikhaila, also known as The Tudor Tailor, said: “The first time I saw the farthingale sleeve I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and was literally speechless."
“I knew of these garments from documentary descriptions of them, such as the ones made for Queen Elizabeth I that are recorded in her Royal Wardrobe accounts, but I never thought for a minute that there would be an extant example.
They added: “The sleeve is not only an extremely rare survival of an item of English dress from the 16th century, it also offers us the opportunity to see an example of once common materials such as fustian, and what must have been one of the earliest uses of baleen for stiffening outside of the Royal Wardrobe.”
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