The story of Britomart

Britomart’s story begins on the left side of the casket with the moment that sets the story in motion: she looks into a magic mirror that shows her destiny - her true love, Artegall. She decides to quest to Faerie Lond, disguised as a male knight, and seek him. Unbeknownst to her, Artegall also spends much of Book Three (the book of the poem that focuses on Britomart, although her story is not confined to Book Three) in disguise as the Sauvage Knight. Both in disguise, they fail to recognize each other.

For this panel, I wanted to attempt something that is sometimes seen on 17th century stumpwork: a silver or nué dress with a floral pattern. This is worked by couching the silver thread down with different colors to produce the pattern. As the Britomart casket is my homage to my favorite 17th century pieces and techniques, I tried to work in as many bucket list elements as I could. This scene was my chance as it is Britomart, dressed in female splendor as a princess of Britain (yes, she is an allegorical representation of Britain but also a literal Briton princess. Don’t confuse Spenser with logic).

The illusion of the magic mirror is created by planing down a sheet of mica to transparency and attaching it over the stitched picture of Artegall. It creates a reflective surface, better suggesting a mirror than plain stitching would. The use of mica is also seen in 17th century stumpwork - sometimes in limited decorative use, as I have done here, and sometimes laid over entire sides of caskets to protect particularly delicate materials and techniques. As mica fragments easily, few of those have survived intact but many retain traces of mica, telling us it was once there.

Chaos at Castle Joyous

The next scene in the correct timeline is on the right side of the casket, depicting Britomart’s conflict with Malecasta, the Lady of Delight, in Castle Joyous. Britomart, in disguise as a male knight, stays at the castle. Her hostess Malecasta is enamored of what she thinks is a handsome young man and seeks an assignation with her, stealing into Britomart’s chamber at night. The sleeping Britomart wakes, chaos ensues, soldiers run in, and Britomart is wounded in the ensuing confrontation.

If we consider the visual story of the casket as depicting Britomart’s journey to her ultimate identity as a female knight, this represents an important intermediate stage, where Britomart’s male guise has become problematic for her. But this scene’s inclusion and its depiction were ultimately a practical choice. One of my favorite 17th century caskets is a piece currently in a private collection, formerly auctioned by Christies as the Longridge Collection casket. It demonstrates wonderful use of color and stumpwork, and depicts the story of Joseph. At the time I designed this casket in 2015, full photographs were not available (the photographs in the link are relatively recent) and I had to guess at the composition using similar caskets that also depicted the story of Joseph. I admired the composition, color use, and execution of the front and the right side in particular, and sought to adapt them to Britomart’s story instead. But there was only one scene with a character in bed - her conflict with Malecasta. I have kept some of the strong colors of the original as well as the general structure, but amplified it through the use of high relief stumpwork.

Britomart triumphant

Britomart’s journey reaches its visual climax with the front panel (also inspired by the Longridge Collection casket) - in the story of Joseph, this is when he is auctioned by his brothers. On the Longridge Collection casket this is a masterpiece of raised work but also of design, with beautifully balanced composition and bold use of color. I recast it as one of the defining moments of Britomart’s story - when, having won a tournament (and failed to recognize her true love in disguise), she reveals herself as a female knight. The spectators look on in awe as Britomart, still in her armor and with her titular ebony lance (her male identity is as the Knight of the Ebony Spear), reveals her true self. The frieze was also inspired by the matching frieze on the Longridge Collection casket, but with the animals changed to the heraldic animals of Britain, the lion and the unicorn.

This panel is the most technically accomplished and ambitious on the casket, featuring a wide variety of needlelace stitches, patterns, and variations, and 8 figures worked in high relief. I challenged myself to use as many different needlelace stitches and textures as I could, choosing a variety of threads to give different effects in addition to the use of a wide array of stitches.

Britomart’s rescue of Amoret

Following the timeline of the book, the next panel is the back, showing her rescue of Amoret which is the climax of Book Three. Amoret is Britomart’s companion and friend, both her mirror and her foil (Spenser loves this particular construct). Taken captive by the sorcerer Busirane in his castle, Amoret is forced to endure the Masque of Cupid nightly, intended to torment her. And is in more literal torment, having had her heart cut out. I chose a more figurative representation, showing a chained Amoret and her bleeding heart suspended in front of her, but skipped the open chest and gore.

When Britomart reaches the House of Busirane, she finds Amoret’s husband/bethrothed (she was abducted at her wedding) Scudamore lamenting his lost love in front of the castle. Dude sits there and weeps while Britomart ventures into the castle to stage a rescue. Before reaching the chamber where Amoret is held and the masque is staged, she sees writing on the walls - Be bold, Be bold, Be not too bold.

When she reaches Amoret, the Masque of Cupid is underway - again, while this is a pivotal scene in the book, my reasons for putting it on the casket were a little more prosaic. I wanted to have the fun of stitching all the costumed figures. As it is the back (and also the last panel stitched, when I was close to a finish) I chose faster, and flatter techniques than the high relief stumpwork of the front. As a result, the figures don’t have nearly the same visual impact.

Britomart’s battle with Radigund

The final scene of Britomart’s story (as told on the casket) is depicted on the lid and takes place in Book Five of the Faerie Queene, not Book Three (Britomart’s book). Book Five is the story of her true love Artegall, the knight of Justice. Each book features a different knight, each representing a virtue, although characters recur and come in and out of the narrative.

Artegall fights the warrior queen Radigund, falls for her guile, and is taken captive. Radigund is the Queen of the Amazons, and in her castle the male knights held captive are forced to dress as women and to sit and spin (a typically female task). Britomart is notified of Artegall’s capture by his squire and rides to the rescue. She fights Radigund, wins, and frees Artegall as well as the other male knights, restoring the ‘correct’ order of things (Spenser’s not ahead of his time when it comes to women, just sucking up to a female ruler).

The decisive battle with Radigund, Britomart’s most formidable opponent, was always planned for the lid as the literal cap to Britomart’s story. However, after playing with multiple compositions that showed the two in combat, I ultimately decided on the moment before the battle, when two formidable women survey each other, preparing for the conflict, with Britomart depicted in motion as the protagonist. It’s a better visual use of the space - two figures in combat means placing them close together, leaving a great deal of unfilled space on what is the largest panel on the casket - and allowed me to insert elements that pay homage to the Fenton House casket, another personal favorite. As a result, the lid is both a stylistic and color departure from the other panels of the casket, using much softer colors and a more open composition. There is needlelace on the panel - Britomart and Radigund’s skirts, as well as the ground underneath them and other elements of Britomart’s armor - but it is flat rather than padded and raised. This panel explores more subtle textures and colors.