Braiding Or Another Decorative Technique On This Ornate Case?

[Stewartjlh]

I ran into this case in a little museum in Vienna. Can someone enlighten me as to what decorative technique(s) were used on this case? Is it braiding, weaving, embroidery? If such terms can be applied to leather. How is it done? Some of it looks like stair step applique that is described in Bruce Grant's book, but other parts look different enough to be something else.

Sorry for the terrible photo, I was trying to get a good close-up through the glass display case. Somehow I completely failed to get a picture of the whole piece, which is completely covered in this decorative work. [sigh] I have a vague recollection (it was almost 10 years ago) that this case was meant to hold an equally decorative drum, and was of Spanish origin given as a gift to someone in Austria sometime in the 1800's. I believe it was in the Volkskunde Museum or Museum of Folk Art.

Thanks for any info or insights. And apologies if this is the wrong part of the forum for this post. I'm new here. :-)

Cheers, Stewart

[KnotHead]

It appears to me to be a mixture of Austrian quill embroidery and applique work.