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• The Lost Art of the Anglo-Saxon World: The Sacred and Secular Power of Embroidery by Alexandra Lester-Makin
• Sarah Randles

In this book, based on her doctoral research, Alexandra Lester-Makin analyses the entire known corpus of early medieval British and Irish embroidery, a task made no less daunting by the fact that this amounts to a total of forty-three pieces. These range from the famed and monumental Bayeux Tapestry to tiny scraps preserved in archaeological contexts, and those examples where the form of the embroidery can only be deduced from impressions in corroded metal. More substantial works discussed include the Maaseik embroideries, those associated with St Cuthbert’s tomb in Durham Cathedral, and the Worcester fragments, as well as the relatively recent Llan-gors find.

The paucity of the extant record can be attributed to the inherent fragility of textiles. Lester-Makin’s first chapter provides a detailed examination of the problems associated with her data set, and includes an informative discussion on the ways that different textile fibres are preserved in specific physical contexts. It becomes clear that these few extant embroideries represent remarkable survivals, whether because of the accidents of soil composition or other physical contexts, or by virtue of their association with saints or other important people.

Yet even some of the most apparently unprepossessing fragments can yield a wealth of information in the hands of an appropriately skilled and attentive investigator. One of this book’s great strengths is its methodology. Lester-Makin is both an archaeologist and an embroiderer, having completed an apprenticeship with the Royal School of Needlework. Her book makes a compelling case for the benefits of experiential learning in the analysis of historical material culture; together with microscopy and high-resolution photography, her detailed examination of the embroideries is informed by her technical knowledge and by stitching experimental samples. As a result, she has been able to identify stitch techniques and reconstruct the order in which pieces have been worked, allowing her to revise and expand upon the work of previous scholars.

Lester-Makin’s use of ‘Object Biography Theory’ proves it to be an effective tool for considering these early medieval embroideries. Importantly, her approach follows the work of Cornelius Holtorf in arguing that the biography of objects should not stop at their archaeological deposition but must also chronicle their life after rediscovery, including the ways that they have been interpreted, conserved, and displayed in subsequent eras. Lester-Makin makes the point that ‘The [End Page 265] fragments that researchers see today are not what people saw—either literally or metaphorically—at the time they were made, used, recycled or deposited’ (p. 27). The benefits of this theoretical approach are demonstrated by a detailed analysis of the Kempton embroidery, a small fragment of embroidery originally contained in a copper alloy box, which was rediscovered in a nineteenth-century excavation, now separated from its container, and stored under a Perspex screen in the British Museum.

Lester-Makin attempts to give an overview of her corpus based on her detailed analysis of the materials, techniques, colour, and preservation circumstances of each piece. As she admits, however, the sparseness of the record and the accidents of survival limit the reliability of the conclusions that can be drawn from this data. For example, the absence of a particular stitch type in the record for a given century should not be understood to mean that it was not practised in this period. The overview also highlights a problem with the title of the book—not all the embroideries that form its subject can reasonably be understood as ‘Anglo-Saxon’ (even aside from issues concerning the accuracy or appropriateness of that term). Including embroideries from Viking Age Dublin, ninth- or tenth-century Wales, and Iron Age Orkney undermines any sense of a distinctive cultural style. A stronger argument also needed to be made for the inclusion of the...

审阅者：

• 盎格鲁撒克逊世界失落的艺术：刺绣的神圣与世俗力量作者：亚历山德拉·莱斯特·马金
• 萨拉·兰德尔斯

在这本书中，亚历山德拉·莱斯特·马金 (Alexandra Lester-Makin) 根据她的博士研究，分析了中世纪早期英国和爱尔兰刺绣的整个已知语料库，由于总共有四十三件作品，这项任务也变得同样艰巨。这些范围从著名的、具有纪念意义的贝叶挂毯到考古环境中保存的微小碎片，以及那些只能从腐蚀金属的压痕中推断出刺绣形式的例子。讨论的更实质性的作品包括马塞克刺绣、与达勒姆大教堂圣卡斯伯特墓有关的刺绣、伍斯特碎片以及相对较新的兰戈尔斯发现的作品。

现存记录的匮乏可归因于纺织品固有的脆弱性。莱斯特-马金的第一章详细研究了与她的数据集相关的问题，并对不同纺织纤维在特定物理环境中的保存方式进行了内容丰富的讨论。很明显，这些现存的刺绣代表着非凡的遗存，无论是由于土壤成分或其他自然环境的偶然性，还是由于它们与圣人或其他重要人物的联系。

然而，即使是一些最不引人注目的片段，在熟练且细心的调查员手中也能产生大量信息。本书的一大优点是它的方法论。莱斯特-马金既是一名考古学家，又是一名刺绣师，在皇家刺绣学院完成了学徒期。她的书令人信服地证明了体验式学习在历史材料文化分析中的好处；结合显微镜和高分辨率摄影，她通过技术知识和缝合实验样品对刺绣进行了详细检查。因此，她能够识别缝合技术并重建作品的制作顺序，从而使她能够修改和扩展以前学者的工作。

莱斯特-马金对“对象传记理论”的使用证明它是考虑这些中世纪早期刺绣的有效工具。重要的是，她的方法遵循了科尼利厄斯·霍尔托夫（Cornelius Holtorf）的观点，即物品的传记不应停留在考古沉积上，还必须记录它们在重新发现后的生活，包括它们在随后时代被解释、保存和展示的方式。莱斯特-马金 (Lester-Makin) 指出“ [结束页 265]研究人员今天看到的碎片并不是人们在制造、使用、回收或存放时所看到的——无论是字面上还是隐喻上的碎片”（第 27 页）。这种理论方法的好处通过对肯普顿刺绣的详细分析得到了证明，该刺绣是最初包含在铜合金盒子中的一小块刺绣碎片，在十九世纪的一次挖掘中被重新发现，现在与容器分离，并存放在大英博物馆的有机玻璃屏风。

莱斯特-马金试图根据对每件作品的材料、技术、色彩和保存情况的详细分析，对她的语料库进行概述。然而，正如她承认的那样，记录的稀疏性和生存的意外限制了从这些数据中得出的结论的可靠性。例如，某个世纪的记录中没有特定的针法类型不应被理解为意味着该时期没有采用这种针法。概述还强调了书名的一个问题——并非构成其主题的所有刺绣都可以合理地理解为“盎格鲁撒克逊”（即使除了有关该术语的准确性或适当性的问题之外）。包括来自维京时代都柏林、九世纪或十世纪威尔士的刺绣，铁器时代的奥克尼群岛破坏了任何独特文化风格的感觉。还需要提出更强有力的论据来将……纳入其中。