{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O65138"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O65138/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AL2184/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AL2184/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AL2184","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AL2178","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O65138/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O65138","accessionNumber":"E.1861:48-1991","objectType":"Design","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This design is from an album that contains 104 designs for fine woven silk cloth and is dated July 12th 1707. 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.\r\n\r\nJames 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.\n\nLeman's inscription on the design states 'for my Father Peter Leman' showing that he drew it while still an apprentice. The inscription also reveals that it was commissioned by Mr Carr, one of the most important mercers of his day who supplied goods to the Crown on a large scale. Between 1707 and 1711 Mr Carr bought 7 of Leman's earlier designs.","physicalDescription":"Design for woven silk from the 'Leman Album', in pencil, pen and ink, watercolour and bodycolour on laid paper, depicting architectural features, in yellow ochre, decorated in red and green, of  two columns on the end of a terrace supporting a balcony above which is a pyramidal obelisk and green fretwork. There is a pile of enormous outsize fruit, the most remarkable of which is a red melon, cut open to reveal seeds, amongst leaves, over the balcony. Stalactites hang beneath the obelisk and a branch of fruit and pink and dark red flowers. There are also smaller pink and blue flowers dispersed over the design.\n\nThe design is squared up in pencil for cords and dezines, with dezines numbered in ink.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Leman, James","id":"A5979"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"Ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"Watercolour","id":"x33202"},{"text":"Bodycolour","id":"x34671"},{"text":"Laid paper","id":"AAT14184"}],"techniques":[{"text":"Painting","id":"x30598"},{"text":"Drawing","id":"x32498"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pencil, pen and ink, watercolour and bodycolour on laid paper","categories":[{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"},{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006AL2184","2006AL2178"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLE","id":"THES49657"},"free":"","case":"DR","shelf":"125","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"designs","id":"AAT102051"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Spitalfields","id":"x29420"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"12/07/1707","earliest":"1707-07-12","latest":"1707-07-12"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased with Art Fund support and the National Heritage Memorial Fund","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"91.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"26.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"36","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"10.5","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from Rothstein, Natalie. <u>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</u>. London: Thames and Hudson, 1990.","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'London July 12th 1707. Orrace tissue brocade for Mr Care / & Comp being the second figure  / of their orrace tissue. / 400 cords No 8 & 12 174 Dezines long in 6 / symples 29 in each. / for my Father Peter Leman / James Leman / This figure was taken from a french Brocaded Damask by me James Leman.'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"Ink","method":"Handwriting","position":"This inscription is very difficult to see because it is on teh back of the design which is pasted down.  It was recorded by Natalie Rothstein.","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"Signature; date","note":"Handwritten text in ink including the designer's signature and date, on the back of the design. The inscription is difficult to see because it is on the back of the design which is pasted down. However, Natalie Rothstein recorded it in her publication <u>Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century</u>."},{"content":"'Mr Care's orrace tishue / July 12 1707 / 400 Cords 8-12 -174 Dezines in 6 Simples / french figure'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"Ink","method":"Handwriting","position":"Visible on the front of the fold.","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"Textual information","note":"Handwritten text in ink, on the back of the design, on the fold."},{"content":"Squared up in pencil for cords and dezines, with dezines numbered in ink.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"Ink","method":"Handwriting","position":"On the front of the design.","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"Makers's and designer's marks","note":"Handwritten makers' and designer's marks in pencil and ink, on the front of the design."}],"objectHistory":"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 <u>Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century</u>. The designs have been subsequently numbered by the Prints, Drawings and Paintings Department, however, a concordance exists.\n\r\nMr Care actually refers to Mr Carr, one of the most important mercers of his day.\n\nHistorical 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.\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Design for woven silk from the 'Leman Album', pencil, pen and ink, bodycolour and watercolour on laid paper, by James Leman, Spitalfields, 1707","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Rothstein, Natalie. <u>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</u>. London: Thames and Hudson, 1990. 351p., ill. ISBN 0500235899.","id":"AUTH324304"},"details":"p. 99","free":""}],"production":"The following information is taken from Natalie Rothstein, <u>Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century</u>. Please see the bibliographic reference under 'References' for more details.\n\n'A silk in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (no. 50.3181) has a similar group of fruit with tendrils etc., but the whole motif is inverted on the silk. It also has pyramids (larger than that on this drawing) and also balustrades. Could it possibly be the original French silk that inspired Leman? The Boston piece is, in fact, a brocaded damask, as was the French silk from which 'This figure was taken'.'","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.1861:48-1991"],"accessionNumberNum":"1861","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1991,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"'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>.","id":"THES55481"},"number":"VS.42"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-05-09","recordCreationDate":"2002-05-03","availableToBook":false}}