tablecloths-msg - 9/1/12 Period tablecloths. SCA feast tablecloths. NOTE: See also the files: utensils-msg, p-tableware-msg, spoons-msg, forks-msg, aquamaniles-msg, feast-decor-msg, nefs-msg, feast-serving-msg, high-table-msg. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous Stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2000 03:54:46 EDT From: CBlackwill at aol.com Subject: Re: SC - roundels and tablecloths morgana.abbey at juno.com writes: > Balthazar, you have the professional experience. Any thoughts? Why, it's funny you should ask.... The description sounds *exactly* like a table skirt we still use today in almost all banquet and catering functions. It serves a number of purposes, such as adding a "finished" edge to the table, protecting the floor from drips which would have otherwise hit it, and nicely hiding things from the view of the dining public, such as chafing dish lids, buckets for holding fat and trimmings from on-line carving stations, and the occasional Jack and Coke for the thirsty Chef... > I wouldn't use table skirts simply because, once made, I'd have no other > way to use the fabric. Except, of course, as a table skirt for your next feast... :) Balthazar of Blackmoor Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2000 11:00:59 EDT From: RuddR at aol.com Subject: SC - Re: Roundels and Tablecoths Cairistiona writes: > Thinking of tablecloths, I notice that both the Berry picture (January) and > another picture I have (marriage feast at the court of King Yon of Gascony > is all I know) show damask tablecloths in pieces: a separate piece of > damask pleated (maybe pinned to the table top?) about 2 ins every foot or so > all round the sides of the table, and coming to no more than about 2/3 of > the way down to the floor. The top cloth is only as wide as the table top, > and so doesn't cover the pleats at all. On the Berry picture the top cloth > extends over the ends of the table, but not the long sides. I think I've > seen some other, less clear, examples of the same technique, but not > actually registered in my mind before. Any thoughts on this? Has anyone > tried laying a table this way? Yes. I've experiemnted with laying tablecloths as I've seen in many medieval illustrations. What I've come up with at this point is an undercloth, very much longer than the table, gathered and pleated (with the help of staight pins), and a smaller top cloth, just the size of the tabletop. To get an undercloth long enough, I've used two long cloths, joined together at a gather and pleat. An example of this type of tablecloth may be seen at: http://www.50megs.com/matterer/medpix/gallery4/mpix91.htm There are better examples, but this is one I could lay my browser on at short notice. I have also seen examples of a gathered cloth, without a top cloth: http://www.50megs.com/matterer/medpix/gallery2/mpix40.htm As far as the January Berry Hours picture goes, it looks to me like a single damask cloth, lightly pleated (draping naturally?), without a top cloth. They seem to be using little gold plates, rather than roundels. The big nef seems to be holding more little gold plates. Rudd Rayfield Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 10:07:08 CEST From: "Christina van Tets" Subject: SC - Re: tablecloths (longish) In answer to my original question, Balthazar wrote: >Why, it's funny you should ask.... The description sounds *exactly* like a >table skirt we still use today in almost all banquet and catering >functions. It serves a number of purposes, such as adding a "finished" edge >to the table, protecting the floor from drips which would have otherwise >hit it, and nicely hiding things from the view of the dining public, such >as chafing dish lids, buckets for holding fat and trimmings from on-line >carving stations, and the occasional Jack >and Coke for the thirsty Chef... Well, yes, except that all the pictures I have in my possession show the table skirt to be between about 10 and 18 inches deep, by my approximation. and Rudd Rayfield wrote: >Yes. I've experiemnted with laying tablecloths as I've seen in many >medieval illustrations. What I've come up with at this point is an >undercloth, very much longer than the table, gathered and pleated (with the >help of staight pins), and a smaller top cloth, just the size of the >tabletop. To get an undercloth long enough, I've used two >long cloths, >joined together at a gather and pleat. An example of this type of >tablecloth may be seen at: >http://www.50megs.com/matterer/medpix/gallery4/mpix91.htm > >There are better examples, but this is one I could lay my browser on at >short notice. I have also seen examples of a gathered cloth, without a top >cloth: >http://www.50megs.com/matterer/medpix/gallery2/mpix40.htm > >As far as the January Berry Hours picture goes, it looks to me like a >single damask cloth, lightly pleated (draping naturally?), without a top >cloth. They seem to be using little gold plates, rather than roundels. >The big nef seems to be holding more little gold plates. I'm afraid I can't see that on the Berry hours picture. Must be my eyes. However, the pilgrim/roundel picture mentioned earlier has only a large tablecloth, no valance. I have another picture which intrigues me greatly along the same lines (sorry, I don't know its name or provenance): It is obviously part of a larger picture, probably the bottom panel. No cracks in the picture to tell ups whether it's on wood or not. Anyway, it contrasts the life of the wicked rich with the humble-but-holy. Four arches at the top, 2 devils in centre quatrefoils and a blessing hand on each outer quatrefoil. Rich couple in centre have a tablecloth with decoration along its length, and the cloth is pinned up to make a slight swagged effect - you can see it's the same cloth as the top, because the top is wrinkled slightly to compensate. The poor couple, on the other hand, have stripes going across the width of the cloth, and the swags are pinned also, but this doesn't seem to affect the top cloth. Moreover, the stripes are slightly out of kilter on the valance part compared with the top. I wonder if this is to show that hte rich can afford to have wide fabric? Nah - then King Yon would have had the wider cloths, and the tavern wouldn't. Cairistiona Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 19:42:38 EDT From: LrdRas at aol.com Subject: Re: SC - roundels and tablecloths morgana.abbey at juno.com writes: << A lot of hotels and banquet facilities use table skirts, which look very much like that. >> This is from a secondary source titled "The Rituals of Dinner (The Origins, Evolution, Eccentricities, and Meaning of Table Manners) by Margaret Visser. Copyright 1991. Harper Perennial ed. 1992 (Harper/Collins). ISBN 0-00-637909-5. $14.95. ...by the High Middle Ages they were even more expressive of the community of the diners than was the table itself. "To share the cloth" of a nobleman was to be seen as his equal. When a master dined with his servants at the same table, either he was the only person with a cloth before him, or the whole table was covered with a cloth but at his place another small napkin was laid. One of the most horrible insults a medieval nobleman could endure was....... And...... Damascus in Syria was where all the best tablecloths came from. Damask was patterned with lozenges and other figures.... And....At late medieval banquets, splendid cloths were laid over the simple wooden boards used for tables........ There were several of them, typically and under carpet first, then a large cloth covering the whole table, then two upper ones each covering the tabletop and falling to the ground of one long side. An "sanap" (French sauve-nappe or "tablecloth-saver") was a narrow strip of cloth lying along the table edge nearest the diners, it took most of the dirt from grubby or greasy wrists, and was presumably easier than damask to wash. The sanap could be made of several layers of cloth, and might be used only until the washing ceremony was over...... Hope this helps. Apparently the folds pictured are merely folds and not the modern 'skirt' which apparently was, for the sake of economy in modern times derived from them. Ras Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 18:17:10 -0700 (PDT) From: Terri Spencer Subject: Subject: SC - Re: tablecloths "Christina van Tets" wrote: > Well, yes, except that all the pictures I have in my possession show > the table skirt to be between about 10 and 18 inches deep, by my > approximation. I don't know about the pleats, but this definition seems to imply the long skirt and/or double cover on top were special: Doublier: A long, and large Table-cloth of Damask, Diaper, &c. hanging to the ground on both sides of the boord, and laid double thereon; a Table-cloth for Princes, and great States. (Cotgrave 1611) Temair From: "deborah minyard" To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] embroidered table linens Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2002 20:08:41 +0000 >Here is something that I have always made the >assumption that it was period, but now am having >trouble finding even out of period texts about. >Embroidered table linens, or tableclothes etc. I've got a picture with a woven tablecloth. It's used in a book on renaissance costuming to show a particular fabric. It looks like little dragon's and I bet if you used it somebody would tell you it wa too fantasy Maddalena From: Bronwynmgn at aol.com Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2002 19:39:18 EDT Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] embroidered table linens To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org ahrenshav at yahoo.com writes: > Here is something that I have always made the > assumption that it was period, but now am having > trouble finding even out of period texts about. > Embroidered table linens, or tableclothes etc. Has > anyone done research on this? I don't know about embroidered ones, but there was recently a Complete Anachronist on Perugia towels, which are table linens woven with a decorative pattern, some of which are apparently used as tablecloths - I believe the references were mostly for Italy and maybe Germany, and 13th century on. Brangwayna Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2002 12:43:42 -0400 From: johnna holloway To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: embroidered table linens Huette von Ahrens asked: > Here is something that I have always made the > assumption that it was period, but now am having > trouble finding even out of period texts about. > Embroidered table linens, or tableclothes etc. Has > anyone done research on this? Peter Brears in All the King's Cooks mentions on page 164 in the chapter on "Serving the King" that: "George Villiers, sergeant of the ewery, or his yeoman ewerer for the King's mouth, would now lay a tablecloth of white linen worked in damask with flowers, knots, crowns or fleur-de-lis.(fn5 which cites the HO which is the Household Ordinances) He does not mention that the tableclothes used for dining in the chamber and great hall where most dined were worked in this fashion. This would apply for at least Tudor England under Henry VIII. Johnna Holloway Johnnae llyn Lewis Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2002 10:33:14 -0700 (PDT) From: Huette von Ahrens Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: embroidered table linens To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org --- johnna holloway wrote: > Peter Brears in All the King's Cooks > mentions on page 164 in the chapter on > "Serving the King" that: I have found a lot of references to damask tablecloths, but damask is a weaving technique and not an embroidery technique. The same with brocade. But thanks for the reference. Huette From: jenne at fiedlerfamily.net Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2002 17:24:21 -0400 (EDT) To: Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] Re: embroidered table linens (fwd) Response from a fiber laurel I forwarded the quote to: On Tue, 16 Apr 2002, Munson,Jennifer N. wrote: > Peter Brears in All the King's Cooks > mentions on page 164 in the chapter on > "Serving the King" that: > "George Villiers, sergeant of the ewery, > or his yeoman ewerer for the King's mouth, > would now lay a tablecloth of white linen > worked in damask with flowers, knots, crowns > or fleur-de-lis.(fn5 which cites the HO which > is the Household Ordinances) He does not mention > that the tableclothes used for dining in the > chamber and great hall where most dined were > worked in this fashion. This would apply for at > least Tudor England under Henry VIII. "Damask" is actually not an embroidery technique, but a weaving one. It is the effect you may recognize from seeing white woven tablecloths with sections that catch the light differently from other sections. The light-catching effect is made by making areas more warp-faced and their neighbors more weft-faced. Damask as a technique goes back to Roman times and custom figured damask towels were indeed very popular by the 16th century. Other techniques I know that were used on table linens: Blue cotton thread (see the recent Compleat Anachronist on Perugia towels) patterns, usually woven in geometric bands and more complicated figures, but the effect could also have been produced with pattern-darning embroidery. I don't recall whether anyone has found specific evidence that they actually did that type of embroidery. Figured sprang and lacis (cloth stitch embroidery on a net ground) were both called "openwork". "Openwork" can also refer to cutwork embroidery. All three techniques can be used to create the same effect - geometric solid designs on an open mesh ground. It is very difficult if not impossible to tell from written records which exact technique was used for a given inventory item just described as a "towel with openwork"! Sprang - There are documented pictures and at least one extant example of linen circular-warp sprang table cloths from the 15th C.(per Peter Collingwood's sprang book). Some historians theorize that sprang borders could have been sewn onto plainweave towels for decoration. The extant one is entirely sprang. The meshes on sprang would be diamonds, while the meshes for lacis would be squares (relative to the selvedges). Lacis was actually known as far back as 10th C. in Iceland. I'm not sure if it remained in constant use through the following centuries, but became common over much of Europe in the 16th century when other laces became popular and loom-woven Burato nets started being produced in Italy. It would have to be sewn onto the ends of a towel or table cloth. Cutwork that looks like lacis may have only been invented in the late 15th or 16th century as an imitation of lacis, but I'm not sure on that point. It could be done by withdrawing threads from linen fabric and binding the remaining threads into open and filled squares. Other laces may have been applied to the borders of towels & table cloths, as well as other types of whitework may have been done (like German whitework of pulled thread techniques combined with stitches like stem stitch and satin stitch to make an image). Why only cotton and linen and not pretty dyed wools and silks? Because when you get a stain on your towel or table cloth, lye and other alkaline solutions make a great stain removers for linen and cotton but tend to eat away at wool and silk. AnneLiese -- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa Date: Sat, 09 Nov 2002 22:47:27 -0500 From: johnna holloway To: "sca-cooks at ansteorra.org" Subject: [Sca-cooks] Embroidered table linens again Last spring Huette von Ahrens on Mon, 15 Apr 2002 posed the question regarding embroidery on table linens saying that "Here is something that I have always made the assumption that it was period, but now am having trouble finding even out of period texts about. Embroidered table linens, or tableclothes etc. Has anyone done research on this?" Huette -------------------- >From time to time I have come across various illuminations or paintings that seem to show what she was looking for in this area and have sent her the citation or the url for the image. Today I found two more both by the same artist and since these were very striking, I thought I would post this find to the list-- The works are The Last Supper by Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1480 (Florence) and 1486 (San Marco). They are on the web in a variety of places but the best is probably the Web Gallery of Art-- http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/g/ghirland/domenico/4lastsup/2ogniss.html Or one can browse the works by searching on Author: ghirlandaio which turns up 140 pictures found, Items 61-70 show the last suppers. "The table is covered by a white tablecloth with blue embroidery. Plates, decanters, glasses, saltcellars and knives are carefully arranged in front of each table-guest, as are the bread and cherries. It might even be the realistic and serene representation of a Florentine table of the period." from the description... Take a look at the linen bands at the end of the tables. If you can find the work in an actual book enlarged as a two page spread, it's quite apparent that there are dragons between the bands. The 1486 (San Marco) is at: http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/g/ghirland/domenico/4lastsup/3smarco.html This one features even more ornate bands. The gallery offers details of both. Johnnae llyn Lewis Johnna Holloway From: Bronwynmgn at aol.com Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 19:55:17 EST Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Embroidered table linens again To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu writes: > "The table is covered by a white tablecloth with blue embroidery. > Plates, decanters, glasses, saltcellars and knives are carefully > arranged in front of each table-guest, as are the bread and cherries. It > might even be the realistic and serene representation of a Florentine > table of the period." > from the description... > Take a look at the linen bands at the end of the tables. If you can find > the work in an actual book enlarged as a two page spread, it's quite > apparent that there are dragons between the bands. But is this embroidery, or is it the "Perugia towels" (most of which aren't towels at all) weaving technique which were covered in a Complete Anachronist sometime in the last few years? I recall those being described as white with blue designs on the ends, some containing motifs such as dragons. I would think in a painting it would be very difficult to tell if the design was woven in or embroidered. Brangwayna Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 14:16:39 -0500 From: johnna holloway To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: [Sca-cooks] Embroidered table linens again Bronwynmgn at aol.com wrote: > But is this embroidery, or is it the "Perugia towels" (most of which aren't > towels at all) weaving technique which were covered in a Complete Anachronist > sometime in the last few years? snipped ------------ I rather thought these looked like what is now called Assisi work myself. I looked the article on the web by the author of the CA article (http://hometown.aol.com/noramunro/Perugia/index.htm) and still think that the linens in the two artworks cited look different than what she presents on the webpage. Johnnae llyn Lewis Johnna Holloway From: "Rosine" To: Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Embroidered table linens again Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 03:51:17 -0500 Check this site out... (Alianora's article on Perugian towels, complete with photos, one if which is the table cloth you were talking about, I believe, webbed on Karen Larsdatter's website) : http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/noramunro/Perugia/ Karen's got a bunch of other interesting stuff up too - eating and cooking equipment, all sorts of things: http://geocities.com/karen_larsdatter/karen.htm Oh... I should say "Mistress Karen Larsdatter" - as of Atlantia's Crown Tourney! Rosine Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 08:41:18 -0500 From: johnna holloway To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: [Sca-cooks] Embroidered table linens again http://www.geocities.com/karen_larsdatter/feastgear.htm which is Mistress Karen's one webpage lists the pictures but does not say that they are Perugian borders. She does note that she thinks that in The Marriage at Cana at http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/pinfo?Object=41382+0+none "The tablecloth has ornate decoration -- possibly embroidery, or very complicated brocading." This is another that I had come across earlier this fall. Huette has commented and I agree that viewing these artworks on the web has many drawbacks depending on one's vision and how good a monitor we are using. It may take some trips to a good fine ats library to find printed images with enough details to tell us what we want to know. Johnnae llyn Lewis Johnna Holloway Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 17:15:07 -0300 From: Suey Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Medieval questioniare - tablecothes, buffets and tisane To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org Many thanks Saint Philip for providing the coquinaria address which I copied and pasted, took the test and according to them I flunked the tablecloth and the buffet questions but I totally disagree. The tablecloth first introduced in Europe was by Ziryab, the Kurd, founder of the first conservatory of music which was in Cordoba. His tablecloth was leather. The surnape did not exist then on the 9th C. Muslim Hispanos were instructed to clean their knives and hands on the flatbread provided. Spaniards did not have trenchers. Yes, Rickert, Edith. _The Babees? Book Medieval Manners for the Young: Done into Modern English from Dr. Furnivall?s text_, New York, Cooper Square, Publishers, Inc., New York, 1966 states: p xxxi a young nobleman was instructed not to wipe his nose on the tablecloth. p 6 says to wipe your mouth with a cloth not the tablecloth so as not to dirty the drinking cup. p 14 repeats the above in poetry. p 59 "Ye do not right to soil your table, nor to wipe your knives on that, but on your napkin." p 136 repeat: "Wipe thy mouth when thou shalt drink ale or wine "On thy napkin only; and see all things be clean. "Wipe thy mouth when thou shalt drink ale or wine "On thy napkin only; and see all things be clean." p 152: " "Having a napkin thereon them to wipe; Thy mouth therewith clean do thou make, . . " p 164 again nose - handkerchief. Suey Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 09:59:14 +1300 From: Adele de Maisieres Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Medieval questioniare - tablecothes, buffets and tisane To: Cooks within the SCA Suey wrote: > 1. The tablecloth first introduced in Europe was by Ziryab, the Kurd, > founder of the first conservatory of music which was in Cordoba. His > tablecloth was leather. The surnape did not exist then on the 9th C. > Muslim Hispanos were instructed to clean their knives and hands on the > flatbread provided. Spaniards did not have trenchers. I don't think that's entirely correct. Ziryab (Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Nafi) may have introduced (or re-introduced) the tablecloth to 9th-century al-Andalus, but a very quick look through my own books yields earlier examples of tablecloths in Europe. For example Roy Strong's _Feast_ has a sixth-century Roman mosaic of the Last Supper served on a tablecloth. -- Adele de Maisieres Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 16:16:48 -0700 (PDT) From: Raphaella DiContini To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org Subject: [Sca-cooks] Handwashing in 1500's Italian feast menus Greetings, There's something I've noticed when looking through two menus in Messisbugo, that recalled to mind something I had seen in the Scappi menus as well. Just before the final course the top tablecloth was removed to reveal a clean one underneath, scented water was provided for hand washing, and in Scappi, they were given clean napkins. From Messisbugo's Libro Novo, Menu in the Middle of August 1530 "And therein is removed one tablecloth and everything on the tables, and they are given sweet-smelling water for the hands." Again from the Menu for the Eight of September 1531 "And there they removed tablecloth and everything on the table, and they are given sweet-smelling water for the hands," This was apparently not limited to only feasts or even evening meals, as looking through the Menu translations posted by Helewyse here: http://www.geocities.com/helewyse/octobermenus.html You can see this mentioned in both Lunch and Dinner menus From Scappi's Opera Lunch on the 15th of October "Raise the tablecloth, wash hands, change the white napkins" The same is mentioned again in the dinner menu on the same day "Raise the tablecloth, wash hands, change the white napkins" In the August lunch and dinner menus on August 8th and 15 all this is mentioned each time in the same place in the menu, translated as: "Lift the tablecloth, give water to the hands, one changes to the white serviettes and one serves" the? Italian transcription is: "Levata la tovaglia, & data l?acqua alle mani, si muteranno salviette candide" This is listed immediately before the final course, and is seen consistently in both sources. I've used the serving practices listed in Scappi's menus before, with each course alternately buffet style from the sideboard (Credenza) or served from the kitchen (Cuchina), but I have yet to attempt this changing of table linens and providing scented (I would guess rose, or citrus) water, before the final course and I'm wondering about the logistical feasibility of it. Perhaps this is something that could only work for a perfect period feast where all of the servers and diners are trained in what to expect as I can imagine the chaos and complaints that might ensue if I were to try this currently. Perhaps if there was a class on one of the etiquette manuals, or an overview of many? Any thoughts? Raffaella Edited by Mark S. Harris tablecloths-msg Page 11 of 11