Design
09/07/1709 (designed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This design is from an album that contains 104 designs for fine woven silk cloth and is dated July 9th 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 and watercolour on laid paper |
| Brief description | Design for woven silk from the 'Leman Album', pencil, pen and ink and watercolour on laid paper, by James Leman, Spitalfields, 1709 |
| Physical description | Design for woven silk from the 'Leman Album', in pencil, pen and ink and watercolour on laid paper, depicting garden architectural features including a tower with a domed roof and an arch within a triangular shaped feature. The design is adorned with foliage and fruit, including what is perhaps a stylised round, outsized fruit, decorated partly in diaper and spots, and a group of smaller, round fruits. Foliage meanders through what could be the open side of the building. There are two pyramids beneath the arch, amidst large leaves, foliage and rocaille. Decorative motifs feature in the rest of the design. The design is in pale yellow ochre, green, purple and brown. The design is squared up in pencil 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 July 9th 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, pl. 16
Full text of the entry is as follows:
'London 9 July 1709
A Damask with a flush and Brocade for Mr Tully
- 450 cords 8 & 10 -
100 Dezines
for my Father
by me James Leman
Squared up in pencil for cords and dezines, with dezines numbered in ink.
18 1/4" (46.4) x 10 1/2" (26.7) [pl. 16]
CT.18335 VS86' |
| Other number | VS.86 - '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.1861:95-1991 |
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| Record created | May 8, 2002 |
| Record URL |
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