London, ca 1632
BSS.201.C32.15
By kind permission of Bible Society

This delicate silk bookmark, made during the reign of Charles I, is an immensely rare survival and a masterwork of design and technical skill. Each of the thirteen strands carries a Latin quotation, of which seven are taken directly from the Anima Christi, a medieval Catholic prayer to Jesus. That the marker was used with an embroidered Protestant Bible suggests that the original owner conformed outwardly to the state religion, whilst at the same time acknowledging a private Catholic identity. The embroidered Bible and its bookmark were later in royal ownership with Princess Elizabeth (1770–1840), daughter of George III.