Carpet with St. John family heraldry c1605

'Embroidered in tent and stem stitch, in wool, silk, gold, and silver thread on linen canvas. The blue ground is covered with symmetrically-arranged branching stems in two shades of green, bearing carnations, Tudor roses, acorns, grapes etc, In the centre is a roundel, containing (within a broad border of floral stems on a black ground0 an impaled coat of arms and the initials O.S. and E.S. The carpet is surrounded with a broad border of floral stems of different types on a black ground, containing 20 heraldic shields of the alliances of the St. John family.

The border is in four pieces (one with a narrow red chevron edging) but probably belongs to the centre, which has been cut down; the whole was mounted at a later date on a piece of coarser canvas, through which some of the outlines were reworked.' (Caption from V&A collections website which also includes details of the 20 heraldic shields)

The carpet is believed to have been made for the marriage in 1602 of Oliver St.John, 1st Earl Bolingbroke with Elizabeth, heiress of William Paulet. It has previously been referred to as 'the Bletsoe table carpet'.

Bletsoe was the seat of the senior branch of the St.John family with Lydiard Tregoze belonging to the junior branch.