Saturday, September 10, 2011

17th Century Fabric Reproduction

A day or two ago, I found a link on the h-costume list to this page describing yet another historic fabric that Duran Textiles plans to manufacture for sale by a museum. The last one I wrote about was a reproduction of a fifteenth century textile made for Queen Margareta and preserved in Uppsala Cathedral.

This time, Duran is making a reproduction of an embroidered silk broadcloth used to make a wedding suit for King Gustav II Adolf, who ruled from 1615 to 1632. The reproduction fabric will be sold by the museum shop of the Royal Armouries of Sweden, where the original of the suit now resides. The original was purple colored and embroidered in gold, with genuine gold spangles (i.e., sequins) studding the floral design. The reproduction will be available in two modes; printed in gold on purple or red cotton, or printed on wine-colored or blue silk; the silk version costs 590. SEK per meter and is 145 cm wide (no word on the cost of the cotton version). Also available for the truly wealthy is a limited edition version in hand-embroidered silk that costs 3 200. SEK per meter.

The article has clear enlargeable photographs, both of the original suit and of the reproduction fabrics, and I commend both the photographs and the article in general to the attention of lovers of sumptuous fabric and 17th century costume alike.

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