The Tapestry Trade in Elizabethan London: Products, Purchasers, and Purveyors

Abstract

Tapestry imports were said by contemporaries to total more than £5000 in 1559, and 6 years later they rose still higher. Whether as large wall hangings or small cuffs to embellish gloves, tapestry was both decorative and demonstrated wealth. A commodity in steady demand, much of it was imported. The differential duties outlined in the Books of Rates and payments recorded in the Port Books make it possible to sketch the outlines of the trade. Wills, letters and tax lists reveal merchants, mostly alien, who were able to supply ‘off-the-peg’ pieces or help with special commissions. Purchases might also be made directly from foreign ateliers, by use of personal friends travelling abroad or from the émigré tapestry weavers, whose presence in London has only recently been discovered.

Keywords:

• Émigré tapestry weavers
• imports
• London
• Port Books
• Rate Books
• stranger merchants
• tapestry

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hilary L Turner

Hilary Turner is a freelance researcher and translator. Her interests extend from the Aegean to Oxfordshire, and are focused on cartography, architecture and tapestry — in particular, the Elizabethan tapestry maps of Ralph Sheldon.