1870's table-setting from a noble household - one exceptionally large tablecloth + some serviettes
This stunning table-setting comes from a place I know very well, the home of my landlords, deep in the wine-grape region of Maine-et-Loire. Their house, which we know as The Château even though it is really an enormous mansion, was constructed from the end of the 18th to the mid-19th century, on the site of a much older château which dated from the 12th century, made of the local white stone and with turrets and buttresses; but the original château burnt down in the 18th century, during the Revolution, although I am told its demise had nothing to do with insurgency and everything to do with misadventure.
The land was sold after the original château burnt down, and the ancestor of today’s owners bought it, planted some cypress trees on the burn site, and constructed the current building. This building has been in the same family ever since, it is a magnificent structure with painted rooms and halls leading to ballrooms and winding enormous staircases. But is is a living house, and several generations of the family have had not much use for damask table-linen, as the house no longer has its twelve serving staff, its working farm, or indeed that many people to sit down to dinner. Its current state is a comfortable, slightly ramshackle, enormous family home with a huge park attached. The roof needs fixing. The heating is a little bit too much. There are no longer horses in the stables or wine in the cellars. And most of the very valuable pieces have gone to help the upkeep. But in a cupboard at the top corner of the house were the last of the linens. ‘In my grandmother’s day, everything was perfect’ - but times change, needs change, and here is some of the last of those linens.
This is a 19th century tablecloth and seven of the remaining serviettes. We searched through the chateau to find as many of these serviettes as we could. Over the years they have scattered, been given to the children of the estate, disappeared in different directions. One was found with the tablecloth and six more turned up in an armoire on another floor altogether. Look at the embroidery work. These come from around 1860-70, the heyday of the chateau and its owners, when the orangerie was still full of exotic plants heated by a hydraulic hot water system, and there were twelve full-time house staff and more people employed in the garden and attached farm and vineyard.
The embroidery is the very finest of Loire Valley; traditionally used for coif caps, it began to be a full-scale cottage industry for fine household linens after the collapse of the vineyards in this region due to the introduction of a grape blight from the US. Recognisable by its extreme delicacy and by the use of an infill of tiny dots, called 'sables de la Loire' - sands of the Loire. The crown denotes that this set belonged to a noble household. A small note fell out of these indicating that they were last cleaned in 1960, so they have been sitting washed and starched in the upstairs linen room for 60 years.
These are all in excellent condition. They are being sold as-is, which is starched and pressed. There are storage marks which will come out, but washing, starching and pressing such an enormous tablecloth of such extraordinary quality is the work of a dedicated professional linen cleaner, and I would run the risk of damaging it if I attempted to wash this in my bath and hang it on my outdoor washing-line as I do with most of my finds. I have checked through the entire set, they are sound and have been very little used. I have unfolded and refolded the tablecloth in sections, working along its length, to check, but I have not photographed it unfolded as again, in the space of my studio, with my rustic, slightly rough tabletop, I cannot hope to show the size or give a sense of the drape. For any potential buyer, I can suggest you contact me via instagram where I can send you a video which will show you the quality.
The tablecloth is 2.47 metres wide and 6.21 metres long. The serviettes are 76x89cm. All the hems are handstitched. Linen with crowns on it is now exceptionally rare, this is only the third time in three years I have found something that clearly belonged to nobility. This is and will, I suspect, remain, the best quality linen damask table-setting I have ever met, and is certainly the largest and the most spectacular.
Please click on the photos to open them up full-sized.
If you have any questions, or to purchase, please contact me.