Secondly, the research that she started inspired me to look a little more closely at various Flemish/French/Italian art. It’s amazing what little bits of information you miss when you are searching for something else. Also you see the difference in book print quality; faded to crystal clear. But I digress...on to the goodies!

Armed with some of this information and doing some investigation on my own, and being impulsive/impatient – "I want it now" syndrome, culminated in the creation of this table linen.

Historical Images:

Both of these images appear on the covers/dust jackets of "modern" Medieval cookbooks. I don’t have the titles readily available but can post them later. These are the only ones. It seems like every time I look at a van der Weyden or other xv century artists, famous and anonymous, I find a new one.

The first is found on the cover of The Medieval Kitchen. The image is a xv century source.

This next one is found on the cover of Maggie Black’s cook book.

http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/art/l/limbourg/01janvif.jpg

Textile source: Antichi Tessuti Umbri -Tovaglie dalla Collezione Morosini – Spoleto

It is a very nice little book. It contains several color photos and basic information regarding the textile fragments (region, century, description and fabric composition...missing is thread count though on some of the close ups, you can count the threads). The fragment sizes ranged from large to small. They mostly come from the Umbria region of Italy. The samples range from the xv to the xx century.

This example below is from Valnerina-Umbria region. While this textile is an example of xvi century design, the pattern is consistent with late xv century designs which can be seen in the paintings above.
http://www.wolfeargent.com/linens/xvi_Valnerina-Umbria_opt2.jpg

The modern table linen:

Like I said earlier, Gwen inspired me and I had to have one. Also like she indicated in her market research, linen is expensive. Don’t try this unless you have the briquettes to spend!

This is hand woven and made of 100% linen. There are two pieces of equal length and width. 24” w x 72”L (when placed side by side, they make a 48” wide cloth - I want the flexibility based on the size of the board). Thread count is approximately 30/35 per inch. Based on the image above and looking at textile references in the MoL Textiles book (scarce for wool even more so for linen) for thread counts from the 14 and 15th c.

Fabric Progression:

The pattern for getting ready to weave.

courtesy of L. Colpaert

The beginning shows the blue border and the diamonds.

Photo courtesy of L. Colpaert

More fabric…

Photo courtesy of L. Colpaert

Final: Composite showing extant fabric and newly woven.

Photo courtesy of L. Colpaert

Enjoy!

Jenn (Thanks Gwen)

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One of the books we consulted (and I regret not having it at hand) had several towels with plain blue stripe borders. Some of these were badly faded from much use, the sort of thing you wouldn't look at twice in a garage sale bag, and lord knows how they stayed out of the rag-pickers' cart for several centuries, to be picked up by an Italian collector with unusual tastes. But seeing your work all fresh and crisp, they look truly elegant. Please post some more pictures when you set a table with them!

I wish I could claim credit for the beautiful workmanship, though at some point I would like to learn 'how to', the credit goes to a wonderful Scottish weaver named Liliane Colpaert. She took to it with enthusiasm, even went out and did some research on her own (she's a long time history buff).

We hope to use the linen at our event in September and will definitely take a picture of 'the spread'.

Thanks again to you and Gwen for lighting the fire.

Jenn

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Actually Liliane sent full care instructions including the eventual wine spill.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Jeff Johnson:
The first wine spill is going to be a heartbreaker.

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Scotchguard is period, isn't it?

Hmm... This means that I to prioritize making that table for PPII.

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I'm not sure, it isn't my area of serious study. Most of the images I've seen with really good detail, show regular 'flat' type weave rather than this diamond pattern.

There's a van der Weyden that shows a towel hanging on the wall that is plain with blue striping toward the edges. I think it's a hand towel as it is near an urn or a wash basin. I can't think of the name and I don't have my "big book of van der Weyden" readily accessible.

Jenn

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quote:

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Originally posted by Fire Stryker:
There's a van der Weyden that shows a towel hanging on the wall that is plain with blue striping toward the edges. I think it's a hand towel as it is near an urn or a wash basin. I can't think of the name and I don't have my "big book of van der Weyden" readily accessible.

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Maybe you mean the washbasin and towel from van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece (1432)?

Or maybe the towel and pitcher from Campin's Mérode Altarpiece (1427)?

Other napkin-sized or towel-sized linens with the same or similar weaving techniques (with brocaded bands on the textiles) do appear in period artwork (as well as extant examples in museum collections, but I'll focus here on the artwork since most of the museum examples are AFAIK not online anywhere at the moment), including:

• The Birth of the Virgin by Giotto (the towel carried by the women at left does have a subtle light blue stripe, IIRC, which is difficult to discern in that photo)
  
• The Luttrell Psalter
• The Birth of the Virgin by Giovanni da Milano
  
• January from the Tres Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry
  
• The Virgin at the Spinning-Wheel
• The History of Olivier de Castille and Artus d'Algarbe
  

Towels used for bathing may well have been woven in the diamond-shaped diaper pattern, but seem to generally lack the colored/brocaded stripes along the sides. See Memling's Bathsheba for example; she emerges from her bath, and her maid helps her dry off with a plain white linen towel that seems to have a subtle diaper pattern to it. Towels are not the only textiles associated with bathing, though; the wooden tubs are frequently shown with a lining that is apparently white linen; the board off which the bathers dine has its own cloth; and there is frequently an ornate canopy overhead, even when the bathhouse is indoors. (I've put a small collection of links to such depictions at geocities.com/karen_larsdatter/baths.htm but it's still quite incomplete.)

To add to the piles and piles of illustrations that show tablecloths where the artist has taken special care to make sure that you notice the diamond pattern, there are some illustrations from the Grandes Chroniques de France and The Book of Hours of Marguerite d'Orléans and a 15th century copy of Aristotle's Politics and Economics that just about bash you over the head with the texture, don't they?

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Pattern look familiar?

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