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Design

15/01/1711-1712 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This design is from an album that contains 104 designs for fine woven silk cloth and is dated January 15th 1711/12. 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 states that it was made for his father Peter Leman, showing that he drew it while still an apprentice.

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, 1711-1712
Physical description
Design for woven silk from the 'Leman Album', in pencil, pen and ink and watercolour on laid paper, in yellow, yellow ochre, brown and purple, depicting a central panel of swirling volutes in brown wash, which are decorated internally with a diaper effect and set against undulating leaves. At either side of the design are yellow stripes decorated with yellow ochre volutes. Spiralling purple tendrils adorned with fruit, flowers and foliage are superimposed over these motifs.

The design is squared up in pencil for cords and dezines, with dezines numbered in ink.
Dimensions
  • Height: 37.5cm
  • Width: 26.1cm
  • Height: 14.75in
  • Width: 10.25in
Dimensions taken from 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.
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'Jan: 15-1711/12 This pattern for a 900 = 8 thred Damask brocaded with Silver 450 cords No 8 & 10-80 Dez: 2 simples for my father Peter Leman by me James Leman' (Handwritten text in ink including the designer's signature and date, on the back of the design. The inscription is invisible because the design is pasted down. However, it was recorded by Natalie Rothstein in her book Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century.)
  • Squared up in pencil for cords and dezines, with dezines numbered in ink. (Handwritten makers' and designer's marks in pencil and ink, on the front of the design.)
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 January 15th 1711/12. 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 states that it was made for his father Peter Leman, showing that he drew it while still an apprentice.
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. 106
Other number
VS.12 - '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.1861:18-1991

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Record createdMay 3, 2002
Record URL
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