Design
- Place of origin:
Spitalfields, England (designed)
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
Leman, James, born 1688 - died 1745 (designer)
- Materials and Techniques:
Pencil, pen and ink, watercolour and bodycolour on laid paper
- Credit Line:
Purchased with the assistance of The Art Fund and the National Heritage Memorial Fund
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
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The design on the left shows a yellow garden landscape consisting of a grotto enclosing a fountain at the base of the design above which is a diagonal terrace to a pavilion or colonnade. Amongst these features of garden architecture are enormous pink flowers which are out of scale in comparison. This design is dated October 23rd 1707.
James Leman was born in 1688 into a weaving family of Huguenot descent. In 1702 he was apprenticed to his father, Peter, and lived with his family in Stewart Street, Spitalfields in London. Leman's inscription on the design states reveals that it was commissioned by Mr Vernon, a mercer who commissioned two designs from Leman between 1707 and 1726.
This design is from an album that contains 97 designs for fine silk cloth. A constant supply of fashionable new designs from which to create new lines was required, so patternmakers and master weavers like Leman supplied a wide range of designs for different weavers. The album contains some of his work from the period 1706-1716.
Physical description
Design with a yellow garden landscape consisting of a grotto enclosing a fountain at the base of the design above which is a diagonal terrace to a pavilion or colonnade. Amongst these features of garden architecture are enormous pink flowers which are out of scale in comparison.
Place of Origin
Spitalfields, England (designed)
Date
23/10/1707 (designed)
Artist/maker
Leman, James, born 1688 - died 1745 (designer)
Materials and Techniques
Pencil, pen and ink, watercolour and bodycolour on laid paper
Marks and inscriptions
'London Octr: 18 [crossed out] th 23d - 1707 - / Mr. Vernon's orrace Tishue / 400 Cords Nr: 8 & 12-152 Dezines 6 Simples / This modell was drawn from one of Mr Baudewines / for my Father Peter Leman.'
'152 / 140 / ----- / 292 | 7|3 [The 2 and 9 are crossed out.] / 44 ---- [The first 4 is crossed out.] / 3|13'
'[illegible inscription] / 162 / 25 / ----- / 5 - 4 / ----- / 6 -152'
Squared up in pencil for cords and dezines, with dezines numbered in ink.
Dimensions
Height: 80.7 cm, Width: 26.7 cm, Height: 31 3/4 in, Width: 10 1/2 in
Object history note
This is a design from the so-called Leman album which was bought from Vanners & Co. in 1991. Natalie Rothstein catalogued the designs before the album was bought by the Victoria and Albert Museum. She gave each design a VS number (for Vanners Silks) in her catalogue 'Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century'. The designs have been subsequently numbered by the Prints, Drawings and Paintings Department, however, a concordance exists.
Historical significance: The designs collected in the album are, with the exception of some fragmentary medieval examples in Italian collections, the earliest silk designs known to exist.
Descriptive line
Design for woven silk from the Leman album
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Rothstein, Natalie 'Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century in the Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London with a Complete Catalogue with 473 Illustrations, 371 in Colour'. London : Thames and Hudson, 1990. pp.96-107.
Exhibition History
Flowered Silks (Victoria and Albert Museum 08/08/1990-28/08/1990)
Materials
Pencil; Watercolour; Ink; Bodycolour
Techniques
Drawing; Painting
Collection code
PDP
