Gloves in the early 17th century were either plain and practical, or richly embroidered and intended for showing off. This detached gauntlet, along with its lost mate, would have been sewn to the cuffs of a pair of leather gloves. The dense, three-dimensional quality of the embroidery, using coils of metal thread and a special technique of padded and raised stitches, was popular between the 1620s and 1650s.
A range of popular flowers such as roses, borage, carnation and pansies, with grapes and thistles, are typical motifs in British embroidery at this time.