Description:
A napkin woven with very fine linen with a tiny hand-rolled hem on the cut edges (top and bottom). A damask-weave design features an abstracted pomegranite in the center, surrounded by dense representations of flowers and meandering vines within a border. Two outside borders frame this central design. The outermost border features a checkerboard design. The top and bottom edges are woven with the text "ELIZABETH MURRAY 1740." This text, like the other designs on the napkin, are woven in a mirror or point repeat on a drawloom; as such the design appears as a mirror image from a center vertical axis (the text is written backwards in its second iteration). Drawlooms were used for hundreds of years to weave patterned silks before the Low Countries began using them for linens in the 15th century. Areas of Europe such as Flanders, Holland, and Germany were producing linen damasks by the eighteenth century. Scotland began producing its own linen damasks by the very early 17th century. Linen damaks could be woven with stock designs for the market, custom designs commissioned for individual patrons, or a combination stock design with a personalized coat of arms or text inserted. This example was probably from the third category, consisting of stock designs with Murray's name and date of commission added. A later ink inscription in black (probably iron gall) reveals a name and the date of 1853, probably a later owner or descendant from the napkin's original ownership.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+F.981 |
