Furnishings fit for a queen
Whichever of her palaces she was staying in, when Mary, Queen of
Scots awoke in the morning her eyes would see a rich array of
furnishings.
The Morton valances
Mary's apartments in the Palace of Holyrood, Edinburgh, where
she spent most of her time, would have been used for dining and
entertaining and the walls were hung with tapestries similar to the
Morton valances.
These valances or bed hangings are the work of a Scottish
embroidery workshop, and date to about 1580. They are done in a
tent stitch in worsted and probably show incidents from The Old
Testament or classical mythology. The figures are, however. clad in
French style costume of the mid-16th century.
The Lochleven wall hangings
Like all women of the period, Mary was trained in the art of
needlework and sat working at this during sessions of her Privy
Council. Mary could not have created all of the
embroidery attributed to her, including this magnificent set of
wall hangings, now known to be the work of professional
embroiderers. They were probably made in an Edinburgh workshop in
the late 16th or early 17th century.
This set of hangings was made to decorate and warm a bedroom
wall but they have been altered over the centuries and may also
have been used for a bed. They are only part of a set that is now
divided between the Burrell Collection and St. Leonard's school in
St. Andrews.