Mary Stuart's Delphine Embroidery Panel
Mary, Queen of Scots, was an avid embroiderer from her childhood in France onward. While in captivity under the watch of Bess of Hardwick's husband, she and Bess spent a considerable amount of time embroidering. Perhaps he best known work is a set of panels now known as the Oxburgh Panels as they are now housed in Oxburgh Hall. Most of the panels feature animals and some sort of motto or play on words related to her life, such as an orange cat thought to represent her cousin Queen Elizabeth I of England. This panel features a dolphin or "delphine" as her first husband was the Dauphin of France when they were married.
This pattern was charted in Spring 2006 and plans to make it available are in the works. For more information on the panels, the Mary Stuart Society has information available on-line here and The Needlework of Mary, Queen of Scots by Margaret Swain.