Linen Damask in its Historical Context

Damask table linen has adorned festive dining tables since early modern times. These pure white tablecloths, napkins and hand towels, patterned with discreet, but artfully drawn pictorial compositions and coats of arms, served as status symbols in princely and bourgeois households. Almost all linen damasks of the sixteenth and seventeenth century were woven in the Spanish Netherlands or the United Provinces, from where they were exported throughout Europe. Early production centres included the Flemish cities of Mechelen and Kortrijk, as well as Haarlem, in the province of Noord-Holland. From the eighteenth century onwards, linen damasks were also woven in Scotland, Ireland, Sweden and Russia. The volume presents the papers of an international colloquium hosted at the Abegg-Stiftung in 2021, which brought together scholars from numerous European countries to discuss linen damask in its historical context, drawing on surviving table linen, household inventories and pictorial representations.