<b>Object Type</b><br>It was a popular pastime of wealthy ladies in the 16th century to make up large decorative hangings from a number of smaller panels. This enabled a group of women to work on individual panels at the same time. The hangings would be used as part of a bed set, as either curtains or covers, or be placed on the wall like a tapestry. If necessary, they could be dismantled at a later stage and the panels reused. In the case of this hanging, it seems likely that the panels were left unused until the 17th century.<br><br><b>People </b><br>It is very rare to be able to identify surviving embroideries as having been owned or worked by royalty. This piece and others in the same group are exceptional since they were worked by Mary, Queen of Scots and her attendants. During her long imprisonment she made numerous embroideries, some of which have her initials or cipher. This activity must have both filled her time and occupied her mind as many of the emblems or mottoes have more significance than is immediately apparent.<br><br>A signed monogram with the initials 'ES' indicates that this piece was made by Elisabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury. She was the wife of George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, who was Mary's custodian at Tutbury and Sheffield castles from 1569 to 1584 . Elizabeth (now more familiarly known as Bess of Hardwick after the great house that she had built) was an accomplished needlewoman as well as being highly intelligent and an astute business woman.<br><br><b>Subjects Depicted</b><br>The subject was taken from a woodcut in a book by Conrad Gesner, <i>Icones animalium</i> ('Pictures of animals'), published in Zurich in 1550. The woodcut is entitled 'CERCOPITHECUS' but Gesner also refers to goggle-eyed wildmen, so presumably the creature is an amalgam of the real and imaginary.