Design
22/06/1709 (designed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This design is from an album that contains 104 designs for fine woven silk cloth and is dated June 22nd 1709. A constant supply of fashionable new designs from which to create new lines was required, so patternmakers and master weavers like James Leman supplied a wide range of designs for different weavers. The album contains some of his work from the period 1706-1716, as well as five designs from the 1730s.
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 reveals that it was commissioned by Mr Tullie, a mercer who was an important customer of Leman's who bought 25 silks, mostly the more expensive kinds, between 1708 and 1721.
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 reveals that it was commissioned by Mr Tullie, a mercer who was an important customer of Leman's who bought 25 silks, mostly the more expensive kinds, between 1708 and 1721.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Pencil, pen and ink, watercolour and bodycolour on laid paper |
| Brief description | Design for woven silk from the 'Leman Album', pencil, pen and ink, watercolour and bodycolour on laid paper, by James Leman, Spitalfields, 1709 |
| Physical description | Design for woven silk from the 'Leman Album', in pencil, pen and ink, watercolour and bodycolour on laid paper, depicting a yellow column placed to the left of the centre. It has four fingers which are like candle tips above which are rows of what look like stylised candle flames, surrounded by yellow curvilinear shapes and surmounted by a dome above which are roots. There is a flowering and fruiting branch on one side of the column and semi-circular shapes, decorated internally, at its base. There are additional decorative motifs, including foliate and floral elements elsewhere in the design. The design is in yellow, orange, red, green and brown. The design is squared up in ink for cords and dezines, with dezines numbered in ink. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Purchased with Art Fund support and the National Heritage Memorial Fund |
| Object history | This is a design from the so-called 'Leman album' which was bought from Vanners Silks Ltd. 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. |
| Summary | This design is from an album that contains 104 designs for fine woven silk cloth and is dated June 22nd 1709. A constant supply of fashionable new designs from which to create new lines was required, so patternmakers and master weavers like James Leman supplied a wide range of designs for different weavers. The album contains some of his work from the period 1706-1716, as well as five designs from the 1730s. 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 reveals that it was commissioned by Mr Tullie, a mercer who was an important customer of Leman's who bought 25 silks, mostly the more expensive kinds, between 1708 and 1721. |
| Bibliographic reference | 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. 351p., ill. ISBN 0500235899.
p. 101
Full text of the entry is as follows:
'London ye 22d June 1709
A Figure for an Orrace tishue Brocade
400 Cords 8 & 12 - 106 Dezines in 5 Simples
For Mr Tully
James Leman [flourish]
Squared up in ink for cords and dezines, with dezines numbered in ink.
22 1/8" (56.2) x 10 3/8" (26.4)
Q.500 VS85' |
| Other number | VS.85 - 'VS' stands for Vanners Silks which owned the album when Natalie Rothstein catalogued it for her publication <u>Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century</u>. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.1861:94-1991 |
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| Record created | May 8, 2002 |
| Record URL |
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