GENERAL EMBROIDERY, MADIERA, MAT

A beautiful fine silk hand embroidery with an unusual fish design on this cotton doyley from Madeira in 1950s.

Fish, particularly cod and sardines, hold immense cultural and economic significance in Portugal. Portugal whose extensive coastline faces the sea, most of its culture is related to the Atlantic Ocean where fishing, exploring, and trading have been their gold mine for centuries. Sardines, a staple part of the cuisine, have become a cultural symbol in Portugal representing national identity and resilience.

Fish, particularly cod and sardines, hold immense cultural and economic significance in Portugal.

Portugal whose extensive coastline faces the sea most of its culture is related to the Atlantic Ocean where fishing, exploring, and trading have been their gold mine for centuries. Sardines, a staple part of the cuisine, have become a cultural symbol in Portugal representing national identity and resilience.

The Sardine has now started to feature in artwork including ceramics, paintings, and sculptures, serving as a visual representation of Portuguese culture alongside the rooster, a more traditional symbolic animal for Portugal.

Popular festivals such as the “Festival of Santo Antonio” in Lisbon, or the “Festival of Saint Peter” in Porto, feature Sardines as the centre of the celebrations. Streets are adorned with Sardine decorations, and people come together to enjoy grilled Sardines, often accompanied by traditional Portuguese bread and wine.

The archipelago of Madeira, off the Atlantic coast of Portugal, was and is a prolific centre for the output of embroidery.

In the 1860s, a daughter of a wealthy British wine shipper helped turn what was an island pastime into a cottage industry. The island’s wine industry was under threat from a disease of the vines (Phyloxera) and this was affecting the income of the local vineyard workers and therefore their families. The concern for the families and their future lead Elizabeth Phelps to use her own skills of organization and motivation and her overseas connections and to begin to sell the work of the Madeiran embroiderers to the Victorians back in England. It is estimated that in the 1860s that there were around 70,000 women embroiderers (bordadeiras),