Scottish
Two Tassels, about 1561-1568
Silk, velvet, 2 cm (13/16 in.)
Three images are provided of these two tassels: the first a close-up view of the tassels themselves; the second, in their wooden display box; and the third, a note in Isabella Stewart Gardner’s hand, “From the bed of Mary Queen of Scotts, Holyrood Castle”. The tassels are short, Pom-Pom like balls of silk and velvet fibers with several short braided cords hanging from each. The tassel on our left is a bluish-tinged back and grey rounded ball of fibers, while the one on our right in brown and beige tones, seems to be parted in the center, some fibers running upward, the remainder down.
Long Gallery
Commentary
These small tassels were purportedly snipped from the Holyrood Castle bed of Mary Queen of Scots. Mary Stuart held a special fascination for Isabella Stewart Gardner, who felt a kinship to the persecuted queen for their shared surname. In tribute to her imagined ancestor, Gardner placed these intimate relics on display in the museum’s Long Gallery.