The point couché rentré ou retiré is an excellent method to use for working a raised bar. [Fig. 129] shows the front and reverse sides of a bar worked by it. The gold thread comes cleanly through from the back of the material instead of being clumsily doubled upon the surface, and the durability is evidently great. The linen thread, it will be seen, runs to and fro at the back, at each turn securing the gold thread.
In [fig. 130] this couching is to be seen in use upon drapery. It is taken entirely over the exterior surface of the cloak, and upon the crown, sceptre, and model of the church. The lines expressing the folds of drapery are in this case shown by the couching at these places being taken in a different direction. Fine gold passing is used for the couched thread, much finer than can possibly be shown in the drawing, and the pattern chosen for the couching down is a chevron. The other parts of the work are done with silk thread in a fine chain or split stitch. The play of light upon the varied surface of the golden cloak is very beautiful; the drawing of the figure is perhaps primitive, and, regarded from the draughtsman's point of view, somewhat ludicrous; it is however sufficiently good to express all that its author intended, and there is something very human in this dignified little king who would not have you forget that he founded a church. The king who is personified here is Edward the Confessor, so the church is Westminster Abbey, of which he was the founder.
The Madonna and child forming the [frontispiece] of the work is another example of this couching. The method of expressing the folds of drapery is slightly different from that employed upon the king's robes. All drapery carried out in this stitch is worked in somewhat the same fashion, that is, the couching running to and fro between the lines marks each fold as roughly shown at [fig. 131]. This method leaves an indented line to express the drapery, which is a more satisfactory way than a simple line of dark colour worked over the gold, as in more modern work. The indented line is often further emphasised by a line of dark silk stitched along it, which is done in this case. The figures are taken from the Jesse cope in the Victoria and Albert Museum;[12] this vestment, with its red silk background and its finely coloured and drawn ancestors of Christ posed amongst encircling vine branches, is a most beautiful, though sadly mutilated, example of XIIIth century design and workmanship.
MODERN METHOD OF COUCHING
In the usual form of couching the gold thread is attached to the material by fine strong silk. The thread is fastened down as a rule two-fold, sometimes even three-fold; this method is both quicker and more effective than couching each thread separately. As the couching thread is necessarily in evidence, decorative use is often made of it as well as practical; the stitches, for instance, may be planned so as to carry out some pattern (see [fig. 132]) instead of being put down at random. There is no limit to the variety of the patterns that can be devised in this way.