Designs
- Place of origin:
France (Possibly, Designed)
- Date:
- Materials and Techniques:
Pencil, pen and ink and watercolour 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 branch bearing pears. Natalie Rothstein stated about this pattern in Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century in the Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum that 'this rather simple design with points rentrés modelling seems to date from the later 1730s'. Points rentrés modelling was an adaptation of a technique used by tapestry weavers which enabled tones of colour to be dovetailed, thus producing the effect of three dimensional form. The brocading weft is only taken across the width of the motif rather than from selvedge to selvedge (edge to edge) of the cloth which is the case with the main weft.
This design may be a French original even though it is squared off for drafting in point paper before entering the pattern onto the loom. It is somewhat similar to a design now in the Musée Historique des Tissus at Lyon.
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.
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, although this design is later made, about 1736-1739.
Physical description
A branch bearing pears, leaves, plums and rounded fruit.
Place of Origin
France (Possibly, Designed)
Date
1730-1739 (Designed)
Materials and Techniques
Pencil, pen and ink and watercolour on laid paper
Marks and inscriptions
Squared up in pencil for cords and dezines.
Dimensions
Height: 40.3 cm, Width: 27.6 cm, Height: 15 7/8 in, Width: 10 7/8 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)
Production Note
Natalie Rothstein stated in Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century that 'This rather simple design with points rentrés modelling seems to date from the later 1730s. Although this is squared off for drafting, this too may be a French original. It is somewhat similar to a design now in the Musée Historique des Tissus at Lyons.
Materials
Pencil; Watercolour; Ink
Techniques
Drawing; Painting
Collection code
PDP
