Pair of gloves ca. 1620 British This type of glove, made of substantial leather with the hand and wrist gauntlet in one piece, may have been worn for practical protection by a person of means, despite the presence of silk and metallic thread embroidery, which to the modern eye would render the gloves impractical. Unlike other gloves of the time, which have separately constructed and highly decorated gauntlets that appear far too fragile to wear, this pair would have been relatively functional.These gloves were said to have belonged to James I, primarily because of the presence of the Scottish thistle in the embroidery, but there is no conclusive evidence of this connection. This attribution was first asserted by W. B. Redfern in 1904 and repeated by Frances Morris in 1929. As an insignia of royalty after Jamess accession to the English throne, the thistle motif was usually combined with the Tudor rose to represent the union of England and Scotland under one ruler, as on an early seven