An Epirus silk embroidered figural panel, Northwest Greece,

A similar fragment from an embroidered bedspread is illustrated in Taylor, Roderick R., 'The Early Collectors, Greek Island Embroidery', Hali, Issue 36, p. 36-7; this piece was found in Paros at the beginning of the last century by the renowned archaeologist and classicist, Alan John Bayard Wace (1879-1957) who served as Deputy Keeper at the Victoria and Albert Museum from 1924-34.  Another fragment from the same bedspread previously in the Dawkins Collection is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum Collection. 

According to Taylor, ibid. this select group of weavings is a rare depiction of the Frankish occupation of Greece during the 11th to 14th century Crusades that preceded the Ottoman colonisation of Greece. Mr. Taylor eloquently describes the riders as 'legless Chevaliers are whey-faced northern Kings with their crowns, plucking the flowers of the east'.  Greek Island figural embroideries from the 18th century usually depict figures in the Ottoman-style costume of the time, such as two in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge: a cushion cover from Skyros from the Daniel Collection and an Epirus dowry pillow case from the De Menasce Collection, (see Taylor, ibid, pp. 44 & 45).

The present example shares many technical and stylistic characteristics with the Paros fragments: the use of concentric diamond lozenge infill produced from negative space within  flat colour blocks and the sense of perspective gained by the use of polychrome chain stitch to convey the horses' bridles and reins.  In drawing, however, it closely resembles a pair of large panels or curtains from Epirus, catalogued as Ottoman, 17th century, one in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Inv. No. T.24-1951 and the other illustrated in Erber, Christian (ed.), A Wealth of Silk and Velvet, Ottoman Fabrics and Embroideries, Bremmen, 1983,  pp. 276-7, no. S13/2.  These embroideries display the diamond lozenge infill seen in the majority of the group, along with the pallid faced crown-wearing figures seen on the Paros fragments.  They also depict riders on horseback with Ottoman turbans as in the Demasce piece. The drawing is clearly in accepted 'Epirus'-style, less sophisticated and more playful than in the Paros group and as in the present example the imagery is more fantastical, both birds and animals have developed crowns and the crowns have metamorphosed into naively rendered zig-zags or cockscombs.  Whether the group of fragments found by Wace and Dawkins in Paros in the Cycledes Islands and later attributed to Epirus are from a different weaving centre or a different era to this fragment and the pair of related curtains remains to be seen. 

An Epirus embroidery fragment with very similar horsemen and floral motifs to this lot is illustrated as fig. 14 in Polychroniadis, Helen, Greek Embroideries, Athens, 1980.

The excellent color retention and good condition of the embroidery in this panel allow the original vivacity and lyricism of the design to be fully appreciated.