A sixteenth century example of embroidered badges, a cap of fine linen beautifully worked with fleurs-de-lis and roses as the principal motives, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and is reproduced in Fig. 224.
Fig. 225.—Altar Frontal in Embroidered Linen, Victoria and Albert Museum.
Another example of embroidered linen (Fig. 225) in the Victoria and Albert Museum, is an altar frontal which is decorated with heraldic motives in appliqué work.
Fig. 226.—Embroidered Badge. Part of the Insignia of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Fifteenth Century.
Some interesting and instructive fragments of embroidery exist in the Museum at Berne, part of the spoil taken from the tent of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, after the disastrous Battle of Grandson in 1476. Fig. 226 is the badge, the flint and steel, of the Great Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece, whose insignia are conspicuous in the decoration of the next century in association with the Emperors Maximilian and Charles V. In this instance the steel striker serves as a space for the quartered arms of Burgundy, Limbourg and Flanders. Fig. 227 shows the same arms on what was perhaps part of the bardings, the tournament or other ceremonial drapery of a charger.
Fig. 227.—Heraldic Embroidery. Part of the Insignia of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Fifteenth Century.
Both show admirably how heraldic embroidery should be done, namely, in flat applique strongly designed and simply executed. The sable lions of Flanders are conclusive proofs of how heraldic vigour and decorative distribution may be attained in embroidery.