dicrous; 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.

[Illustration: Fig. 131.]

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.

Decorative use can be made of the colour of the couching thread; a hot
colour warms the tone of the gold and a cool one does the reverse; and
the more contrasting the colour the more it is in evidence.

[Illustration: Fig. 132.]

[Illustration: Fig. 133.]

The gold thread may be couched solidly in straight lines, as the above
figure shows, or it may be arranged in wavy lines either close or open,
as in fig. 133. The thread is waved by bending it round the pointed end
of a piercer just before fixing