Aesthetic and Structural Characteristics of Selected Woven Silks with Emphasis on Dutch Silks of the Seventeenth Century

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to describe Dutch silks of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Dutch and British research papers and transcribed sixteenth and seventeenth century trade documents were translated and critiqued. Selected museums and archives in the Netherlands, England, and the United States were visited. A descriptive chart was developed to record the motifs, colors, weaves, and other surface qualities of the 49 silks selected for analysis; line drawings and photographs were also made. The majority of silks had floral or plant motifs that were uniformly two dimensional in treatment. Most motifs were stylized, usually did not exceed 13.0 centimeters in length or width, and were isolated rather than connected units. Alternating rows of reversed designs (comber repeat) were most frequently found in the silks. Predominant hues were Munsell System Red, Yellow Red, Yellow, Green Yellow, Red Purple, and Black. Because only seven silks with seventeenth century documentation were accessible to the researcher, no general conclusions about their aesthetics or structure could be drawn.