Souvenir embroidered cushion cover from Palestine

« Prev Item Next Item »

Overview

Souvenir embroidered cushion cover from Palestine featuring a depiction of Bethlehem.
It is made from creamy buff coloured fabric with a bright blue fringe around the edges. Most of the detail has been printed onto the cover in a narrow palette of colours - red, blue, green and purple. Landmarks featured include churches, one with a minaret, houses and palm trees.
Some of these features have been oversewn with embroidery. In the top two corners are purple coloured hearts which contain the words 'To My' on one side and 'Mother' on the other in white cotton. In the upper centre is an Australian rising sun badge, above which the words 'Souvenir of Palestine' are sewn in purple cotton.. On the scrolls at the base of the rising sun badge appear 'Australian Commonwealth Military Forces' in white.
The word 'Betlehem' [sic] is printed in purple below the printed image of the town.
The reverse of the cushion cover is plain, but shows signs of staining and age.

Historical information

Given the image of the Australian Army Rising Sun badge on this cushion cover, it is likely it was sold to a person on active service during one of the world wars.

Visiting servicemen and women purchased a variety of souvenirs from Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Palestine and The Holy Land while passing through on active service during both world wars.
Some of the more common items were embroideries such as cushion covers, painted artworks on fabric, jewellery made from mother of pearl, metal and timber, and photo albums with wooden covers filled with postcards of local scenes and pressed dried flowers.
There was also a range of trinket boxes, often with hidden drawers, made from the local olive wood and a range of other olive wood items including napkin rings and even a portable book shelf.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-119-RoW00789

Item type

Themes