Queen Elizabeth’s Napkin

A most curious item from the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Treasures of the Royal Courts exhibition is a napkin - of Flemish origin – probably used at the Elizabethan court, perhaps by the Queen herself. 

It is remarkable in two ways - that it has survived so well, and more so, for its design. Upon the linen damask are facing portraits of Elizabeth, along with heraldic images associated with her mother Anne Boleyn.

Elizabeth I's Napkin, Flemish, circa 1558-1580. The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.



 

 

Another version of  Elizabeth I's Napkin, Flemish, collection of the City of Kortrijk, (photo by C. von Viràg)

 

 

The napkin was made between 1570 and 1600 according to the V&A. But a far earlier date is more likely given the image of Elizabeth. It was almost certainly based on an engraving, attributed to Frans Huys, dated 1559. This was a very early portrait type of the Queen showing her in a black hood and a black gown with a furred collar. Other examples of this kind include the Boughton House Henry VIII and His Family with William Sommers picture, and a likeness in the National Portrait Gallery, London.¹

 

 

Elizabeth I, engraving attributed to Frans Huys, 1559.

Henry VIII and His Family with William Sommers, by an Unknown Artist. Collection of the Duke of Buccleuch, Boughton House, Northamptonshire.

 

 Unknown Woman, by an Unknown Artist. The National Portrait Gallery, London.
 



 Below the repeated likenesses of the young Queen, are Tudor roses, and the coat-of-arms and the white falcon badge of her mother Anne Boleyn. We can only guess at Elizabeth’s feelings towards her controversial mother. But that the napkin was presumably made for use at her court, or gifted to Elizabeth herself, indicates a rehabilitation of Anne’s former notoriety.

 Besides the napkin, Anne Boleyn’s falcon badge has reappeared elsewhere during her daughter’s reign. A set of virginals made for the Queen, bears Anne’s device, as does a banner from a book with Elizabeth’s E.R. initials.  

 

As well, on New Year's Day 1563, she received a 'fair book of prayers and many other things in it, covered with silver, enameled with the Queen’s and her Majesty’s mother’s arms on both sides of gold, garnished and clasped with gold, set with garnets and turquoises' from William Cecil. Unfortunately, this book is now lost.



The Queen Elizabeth Virginal (detail), made by Giovanni Baffo. The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.



Book Banner with the Elizabeth I's initials.

 All these artifacts, and the Chequers locket ring, suggest that Elizabeth was far more sentimental about her late mother than often supposed.

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Notes

¹ The NPG refers to the picture (NPG 764) as being of an unidentified sitter. However, the similarities between  the young lady to Elizabeth in the Houghton House family portrait, suggest it probably is of her.