Mike Redwood - Gloves and Glove-Making

Left: Doeskin gloves, c. 161035, dyed mid-brown, with wide integral gauntlets, thought to have belonged to King James I.
Right: Detail from one of these gloves.

British monarchs led busy lives and had uses for gloves far beyond just the ceremonial. In the sixteenth century, riding, hawking and all manner of social occasions required gloves, never mind occasionally going into battle. During Elizabeth Is reign gloves moved rapidly beyond the utilitarian and the symbolic: they remained hugely important as gifts and with the opportunity to embroider them with beautiful and high-value threads and precious stones, statements could be made at a wide range of price levels.

Gloves were so important that many gloves that were owned by monarchs have been preserved. Each king or queen would have had many pairs, often leaving pairs at the different palaces and houses they frequented, and keeping a store to use as gifts. In the early seventeenth century King James I owned many fine pairs of doeskin gloves. These were dyed mid-brown, with wide integral gauntlets applied with triangles of purple silk and over-embroidered in silver purl threads, couched silver thread and sequins with coiling blooms, interspersed with couched threads forming fruits and hearts. Three bands of purple silk edged in silver lace are sewn to the gauntlet sides, the elongated fingers are outlined in twisted silver braid, and the gloves are lined in brown silk and edged in pink flossed silk and gold thread fringing. Such gloves involved a huge amount of craftsmanship. Fine gloves of the period were also often made using kidskin.