Oes or owes were metallic "O" shaped rings or eyelets sewn on to clothes and furnishing textiles for decorative effect in England and at the Elizabethan and Jacobean court. They were smaller than modern
sequin
A sequin () is a small, typically shiny, generally disk-shaped ornament.
Sequins are also referred to as paillettes, spangles, or ''diamanté'' (also spelled ''diamante''). Although the words sequins, paillettes, lentejuelas, and spangles can ...
s.
Making and metals
Robert Sharp obtained a patent to make gold oes and spangles (another early variety of sequin) in 1575. They were also made from silver and copper. Oes were made either from rings of wire wound around a dowel, or by punching flat rings out of a sheet of metal.
Policy makers worried about the supply of precious metal bullion and restricted the making of gold and silver oes and similar products by patent to the Company of Wire Drawers. In July 1624 their manufacture was forbidden for a time.
Some London hat band makers were prosecuted and fined in 1631 for the fraud of using gilt copper oes and claiming their wares employed only gold oes and thread. Imitation silver or gold oes sold openly were called "counterfeit oes" or "Alchemy oes", and appear as "Olcamee oes" in the 1643 inventory of a Worcestershire
mercer
Mercer may refer to:
Business
* Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925)
* Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City
* Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader ...
Thomas Cowcher.
Thomas Knyvett
Sir Thomas Knyvett (also Knevitt or Knivet or Knevet), of Buckenham, Norfolk (c. 1485 – 10 August 1512) was a young English nobleman who was a close associate of King Henry VIII shortly after that monarch came to the throne. According to Hal ...
sent his wife and Aunt Bell 12 ounces of counterfeit oes and oes of "right silver" in paper wraps in 1623. He offered to buy oes of a different size if required. There were three kinds of oes available. A paper of oes contained 40 oes weighing 2 ounces.
Use
Oes were used to decorate
hairnet
A hairnet, or sometimes simply a net or caul, is a small, often elasticised, fine net worn over long hair to hold it in place. It is worn to keep hair contained. A snood is similar, but a looser fit, and with a much coarser mesh and noticeably t ...
s called "crespines" or "crippins", an item of clothing worn by women of the Tudor court and
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
. An inventory of 1626 mentions a white satin crippin embroidered with gold oes and a green satin crippin with silver oes. As a New Year Day's gift in January 1600
Dorothy Speckard
Dorothy Speckard or Speckart or Spekarde (died 1656) was a courtier, milliner, silkwoman, and worker in the wardrobe of Elizabeth I of England, Anne of Denmark, Prince Henry, and Henrietta Maria. Her husband, Abraham Speckard, was an investor in t ...
and her husband gave Queen Elizabeth a head veil of striped network, flourished with carnation silk and embroidered with oes.
Edmund Palmer embroidered a purple satin suit for
Prince Henry Prince Henry (or Prince Harry) may refer to:
People
*Henry the Young King (1155–1183), son of Henry II of England, who was crowned king but predeceased his father
*Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal (1394–1460)
*Henry, Duke of Cornwall (Ja ...
with silk thread, silver thread, and silver oes. Oes were stitched by embroiderers to form patterns. The
Earl of Northampton
Earl of Northampton is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created five times.
Earls of Northampton, First Creation (1071)
* Waltheof (d. 1076)
* Maud, Queen of Scotland (c.1074–1130/31)
*Simon II de Senlis (1103–1153)
* Simon II ...
owned a sweet bag embroidered with knots of silver oes and burning hearts.
Oes were used in
masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masque ...
costume. In 1610 the embroiderer
Christopher Shawe
Christopher Shawe or Shaw (died 1618) was an English embroiderer and textile artist who worked on masque costume for Anne of Denmark. He was a member of the Worshipful Company of Broderers.
Career
In September 1589, Shawe married Isobel Buttes, or ...
worked on the skirts for the dancers in the masque ''
Tethys' Festival
''Tethys' Festival'' was a masque produced on 5 June 1610 to celebrate the investiture of Prince Henry (1594–1612) as Prince of Wales.
Prince Henry, the son of James VI and I and Anne of Denmark, was made Prince of Wales in June 1610. Among ...
'', sewing on silver "oes", and embroidering gold "oes" on
tiffany fabric. The grass-green and sea-green costumes made for this masque and ''
Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly
''Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly'' was a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones, with music by Alfonso Ferrabosco. It was performed on 3 February 1611 at Whitehall Palace, and published in 1616.
''Love Fr ...
'' match the advice of
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
, who wrote "colours that show best by candlelight are white, carnation, and a kind of sea-water green; and oes and spangs as they are of no great cost, so they are of most glory".
In February 1613, the character of Honor in
Chapman's ''
The Memorable Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn
''The Memorable Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn'' was a Literature in English#Jacobean literature, Jacobean era masque, written by George Chapman, and with costumes, sets, and stage effects designed by Inigo Jones. It was performed ...
'' wore a "vaile of net lawne, embrodered with Oos and Spangl'd". In literature, oes and spangles could be associated with vain luxury and the glittering stars of the night sky.
Henry Hawkins
Henry Hawkins, 1st Baron Brampton, (14 September 1817 – 6 October 1907), known as Sir Henry Hawkins between 1876 and 1899, was an English judge. He served as a Judge of the High Court of Justice between 1876 and 1898.
Background and educatio ...
wrote of the sky "beset with siluer-oes" and the stars as "siluer Oes, al powdred heer and there, or spangles sprinckled ouer the purple Mantle or night-gowne of the heauens".
Purchases of oes are recorded in the household book of
Lord William Howard
Lord William Howard (19 December 1563 – 7 October 1640) was an English nobleman and antiquary, sometimes known as "Belted or Bauld (bold) Will".
Early life
Howard was born on 19 December 1563 at Audley End in Essex. He was the third son o ...
of
Naworth Castle
Naworth Castle, also known or recorded in historical documents as "Naward", is a castle in Cumbria, England, near the town of Brampton. It is adjacent to the A69, about east of Brampton. It is on the opposite side of the River Irthing to, and ...
. He ordered silver and gold oes from London in 1620 for Mistress Marie, copper oes for his children's clothes in 1621, and gold oes in March 1634 for the tailor making clothes for his wife Elizabeth Dacre.
Used on furnishing fabrics, oes sometimes appear in inventories. At Westmorland House in London in the 1620s, a London home of
Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland
Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland (1 February 158023 March 1629), (styled Sir Francis Fane between 1603 and 1624) of Mereworth in Kent and of Apethorpe in Northamptonshire was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Comm ...
and
Mary Mildmay Fane, Countess of Westmorland
Mary Fane, Countess of Westmorland ( Mildmay; c. 1582 – 9 April 1640) continued her mother Grace Mildmay's interest in physic and was a significant author of spiritual guidance and writer of letters.
Family background
Mary was the daughter a ...
, there was a couch in the best withdrawing room set in a canopy with curtains, embellished with embroidered slips and gold oes. Old inventories describe "oes" decorating the surviving "Spangled bed" at
Knole
Knole () is a country house and former archbishop's palace owned by the National Trust. It is situated within Knole Park, a park located immediately to the south-east of Sevenoaks in west Kent. The house ranks in the top five of England's large ...
.
In French, the equivalents of spangles and oes were known as ''paillettes'' or ''papillottes''.
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
, had gold and silver ''papillottes'' for her masques costumes as a girl in France. She requested silver ''papillottes'' for her embroidery from the diplomat
Mothe Fénélon in 1574, as delicate and beautiful as he could find. 18th-century furnishing bills include references to functional "oes", round eyelets used to guide curtain cords.
[Annabel Westman, ''Fringe, Frog & Tassel: The Art of the Trimmings-Maker'' (London, 2019), pp. 111, 243.]
References
External links
Spangles, Sequins, and Spangs: Fashion Historian
{{Historical clothing
16th-century fashion
17th-century fashion
Beadwork