Saving Graces III
Title: Saving Graces III
Artist: Penelope Williams
Year: 2026
Medium: Hand-embroidery on bronze silk and a layer of hand-painted silk, framed in a velvet-lined oak case, with art glass.
Dimensions: 30 x 40 cm
Collection: In Praise of Healing Plants
Status: Available
Price: £2,750
Saving Graces III continues my expression of reverence for healing plants and herbalists, as exemplified in the work of Kapka Kassabova.
The design springs from a late 15th century altarpiece by an unknown artist. It is called the Scarognino after the patron who commissioned it and is pictured in the original paintings that my flowers replace.
Each healing plant is hand embroidered in single strand floss on a background of hand painted blue silk. The polyptych is embroidered and beaded separately on a single sheet of bronze silk and applied afterwards, the ensemble being mounted on pale honey coloured velvet.
The healing plants are:
Top centre: Bear Berry (Uva ursi)
Middle row left to right: Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), Eyebright (Euphrasia officinalis), Alkanet (Alkanna tinctoria)
Bottom row left to right: Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis), Chinese Foxglove (Rehmannia glutinosa), Wormwood (Artemesia absinthium)
This piece premiered at Delamore Arts in May 2026. It is accompanied by a small botanical guide to the plants, hand-stitched and bound in embroidered silk. Colored pencil sketches on khadi paper give the common and Latin names of each plant.
Commissions are invited.
