The Embroidery Pattern on Mary, Lady Guildford's Smock in Her 1527 Portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger

This is Mary Wotton, Lady Guildford. According to FamilySearch.org, "Mary Wotton was born in 1499, in Boughton Malherbe, Kent, England, her father, Sir. Robert Wotton, was 44 and her mother, Anne Belknap, was 39." After 26 December, 1523, Mary became the second wife of Sir Henry Guildford, who died on 28 May, 1532 in Kent, England. He was buried in Blackfriars, London, England. 

By July 1540, Mary had married for a second time, this time to Sir Gawain Carew. She died childless in September 1558, at the age of 59.

Mary's sister was Margaret Wotton, Marchioness of Dorset, who was the second wife of Thomas Grey, Marquess of Dorset, and the mother of his children, including Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk (the father of Lady Jane Grey, the 9 Days Queen of England). Two of her brothers held important positions in the government: Edward Wotton (knighted and later appointed sheriff of Kent) was Treasurer of Calais and Nicholas Wotton was a diplomat who arranged the marriage of Henry VIII to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, in 1539.

Above is a portrait of Mary painted by Hans Holbein the Younger in 1527 and is at the Saint Louis Art Museum.

When zooming in closely to the square neckline of Mary's linen smock, the appearance of embroidery in white thread appears with black trim on the very edge of the fabric.

 

My opinion is that this embroidery pattern is similar, if not identical, to the pattern found on the collar of a Portrait of a Man, also painted by Hans Holbein the Younger. The difference being that on the man's collar, the pattern is placed on its side in repetitive columns, whereas on Mary's smock it is one continuous pattern. For more information on the Portrait of a Man and my interpretation of the embroidery pattern on his collar, please follow this link here. 

 

 Above is my interpretation of the embroidery pattern found on the square neckline of Mary's smock.