Casgliadau Arlein

Unframed woolwork picture with a crest in the centre, flanked by eight banners. Above is the date 1881, surmounted by a crown and the motto ’MY GOD AND WALES’. Below are leek, thistle, shamrock and rose motifs. Purchased by David Clee of Ystalyfera (donor’s great-great grandfather), supposedly from a disabled former soldier who had lost a leg. The soldier sold similar embroideries in the Swansea Valley area.

Woolwork picture embroidered with multi-coloured wool thread onto undyed linen canvas ground fabric. There are flat embroidered areas, but also three-dimensional elements, such as tassles, coiled bundles of yarns and padded sections. There are blue markings along the edges which suggests that the design was drawn onto the canvas as a guide for the embroidery. Along the edges of the ground fabric there are nail holes which suggests that the picture would have once been attached to a wooden stretcher.