A length of Spitalfields Bizarre silk lampas

Circa 1710-1715

The pearl satin ground with yellow trailing leaves bearing further foliate motifs, flowers and fruits in blue, green, coral, sienna and purple. Bizarre silks with patterns such as this, that can be orientated either way, may have been woven to accommodate the possibility that they might be used for a night gown or the wide skirt of a mantua, and allowed that the silk might run over the shoulder, or the top of the skirt, uninterrupted so that the pattern would continue ‘upside down’ on the back. A night gown in the collection of the V & A, of a comparable Spitalfields silk dating to 1707-1708, is constructed in this way (accession number T.281-1983). The current silk also has similarities with a design by James Leman in the same museum (accession number E.4462-1909).

90cm (35½”) x 50cm (19¾”).