Design
09/11/1706 (designed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This design is from an album that contains 104 designs for fine woven silk cloth and is dated November 9th 1706. 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 Trenchfield, a mercer who commissioned three designs between 1706 and 1712.
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 Trenchfield, a mercer who commissioned three designs between 1706 and 1712.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Pencil, pen and ink and bodycolour on laid paper |
| Brief description | Design for woven silk from the 'Leman Album', pencil, pen and ink and bodycolour on laid paper, by James Leman, Spitalfields, 1706 |
| Physical description | Design for woven silk from the 'Leman Album', in pencil, pen and ink and bodycolour on laid paper, in the so-called 'bizarre' style with a diagonal sense of movement and forms, which are vaguely reminiscent of trophies, lying against, over, or in opposition to, each other, all in ochre and white. These forms are rectangular and include one which recalls a quiver of arrows from which emerge heads of wheat instead of arrows. Over this is a large leaf and a huge seed pod. At the bottom of the design is a large flower or perhaps a pineapple. The design is squared up in ink for cords and dezines. There is also a short calculation. |
| 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 November 9th 1706. 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 Trenchfield, a mercer who commissioned three designs between 1706 and 1712. |
| 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. 98, pl. 2 |
| Other number | VS.18 - Vanners Silks number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.1861:24-1991 |
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| Record created | May 3, 2002 |
| Record URL |
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