It is unclear how and when it was acquired by the family (the consignor is listed as Lady Braye) although such hand-woven cloths would only have been owned by the highest echelons of society – according to an inventory of 1561, Mary Queen of Scots, for example, possessed only two tablecloths.
This one is decorated with scenes from the Creation and the Fall of Man and a gothic-lettered script Crescite Multiplicamini Et Replete Terra embroidered in cross stitch with a coronet above the letter B. At Donnington Priory it carries an estimate of £2000-3000. The sale has much more than textiles but it also includes 40 of the quilts bequeathed to the Quilters' Guild by avid collector and prominent member of the Guild, Angela Brocklebank. The late Mrs Brocklebank is pictured above (far left) with some of her fellow quilters at a table covered by one of their creations.
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Late 16th/early 17th century Flanders linen damask banqueting cloth
Among the highlights of Dreweatt Neate’s mixed discipline sale of November 19 is this late 16th/early 17th century Flanders linen damask banqueting cloth (a detail shown right) recently found by the Newbury auctioneers among a large quantity of table linen in an outbuilding of a country house.
