TAPESTRY. 



defigns, both in hxhory and grotesque, furniflicd by Francis 

 Cloy*, and thus carrit-d to fingular pcrfeftion. 



Frora tho dcd above recited, it is plain that the manu- 

 faAurc was then arrived at great perfedion. See Mr. 

 Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting in England, vol. ii. p. 36. 



In the year 1663, a ftatute was enacted (cap. 15.) for the 

 rr.coiir?ge'meiit of the linen and tapeftry nian\ifaaures of 

 Enffland, and difcouragement of the very great importation 

 of ioreig.i linen and tapellry. 



The firfl eftabhlhinent of a tapeftry manufafture at 

 Paris was under Henry IV., in the year 1606 or 1607, by 

 means of fcveral excellent arlifty, wliom he invited from 

 Flanders. 



But this fell with the death of that prince. Under 

 Lewis XIV. the manufafturc was retrieved by the care and 

 addrefs of the great M. Colbert, to whom is owing the efta- 

 blilhment of the Gobelins, a royal tapeftry manufaClory, 

 which has produced works of this kind fcarcely inferior to 

 the fineft Enghfti or Flemilh tapeftry, either with regard to 

 the defign, the colours, or the ftrength. 



In this manufaftory both wool and filk are ufed, and 

 fometimes gold and filver. The finuft paintings may be 

 copied in this work, and the greateft marters have been 

 employed in draughts for the tapeftry weavers. 



The weavers of the Gobelins work behind, or on the 

 wrong fide of the loom, which ftands upright, and the pat- 

 tern is placed on either tide of the workman. 



As the tapeftry of the Gobelins is made of pieces of a 

 certain breadth only, there are other workmen, called ren- 

 trayeurs, or fine-drawers, who are employed in fewing or 

 fine-drawing the feveral parts together, fo that no feam is 

 difcernible, but the whole appears as one defign, like a piece 

 of filk from a loom. Thefe workmen are alfo ufeful in 

 mending and cleaning tapeftry when damaged or fullied. 



The tapeftry -men diftinguifti two kinds of work ; viz. 

 tapeftry of the /ji^k and tlie lo'W ivarp, though the difference 

 is rather in the manner of working, than in the work itfelf, 

 which is, in effeCl, the fame in both, only tlie looms, and 

 ionfequently the warps, are differently fttuated ; thofe of 

 the lonu tvarp being placed flat, and pwallel to the horizon, 

 and thofe, on the contrary, of the high warp, erefted per- 

 pendicularly. 



The French have had three confiderable tapeftry manu- 

 factories befides that of tlie Gobelins ; the firft at AubulTon, 

 in Auvergne ; the fecond at Felletin, in the Upper Marche ; 

 and the third at Beauvois : they were all equally eftablilhed 

 for the high and the low warp ; but all laid afide the former, 

 excepting that of the Gobelins. 



There are admirable low warps in Flanders, generally 

 exceeding thofe of France ; the chief and almoft only 

 FlemilTi manufaftories were at Bruffels, Antwerp, Oudenard, 

 Li.He, Tournay, Bruges, and Valenciennes. 



At Bruffels and Antwerp they fuccteded both in human 

 figures and .inimals, and in landfcapes : and that both with 

 refpeft to the defigning and the workmanfhip. At Oude- 

 n.ird their landfcapes and animals were good, but their 

 human figures not well executed. Lifle, and the other 

 cities named, came behind Oudenard. The French manu- 

 fafture of Felletin has done tolerably well in landfcapes, 

 AubufTon in figures, and Beauvois in both. 



The ufual widths of tapeftries were from two ells to 

 three ells and a half, Paris meafure. 



The manufafture of tapeftry of each kind (though lefs 

 fafhionablo and in ufe than formerly) is too curious to be 

 here paft over without a fhort defcription. We fhall give 

 »ach under its feparate article. 



Manufadure of Tapejlry of the High Warp The loom 



on which this is wrought is placed perpendicularly j \i 

 confifts of four principal pieces j two long planks or checks 

 of wood, and two thick rollers or beams, l^he planks are 

 fet upright, and the beams acrofs, one at top, and the 

 other at bottom, 2 foot diftance from the ground. They 

 have each their trunnions, by which they are fufpended on 

 the planks, and arc turned with bars. In each roller is a 

 groove, from one end to the other, capable of containing a 

 long round piece of wood, faftened in it with hooks. Its 

 ufe is to tie the ends of the warp to. The warp, which is 

 a kind of worftcd, or twifted woollen thread, is wound qb 

 the upper roller ; and the work, as faft as woven, is wound 

 on the lower. 



Withinfide the planks, which are feven or eight feet high, 

 fourteen or fifteen inches broad, and three or four thick, 

 are holes pierced from top to bottom, in which are put thick 

 pieces of iron, with hooks at one end, ferving to fuftain the 

 coat-ftave : the pieces of iron have alfo holes pierced in them, 

 by putting a pin in which, the ftave is drawn nearer, or fet 

 farther oft' ; and thus the coats or threads are ftretched and 

 loofened at pleafure. The coat-ftave is about three inches 

 diameter, and runs all the length of the loom ; on this are 

 fixed the coats, or threads, which make the threads of the 

 warp crofs each other. It has much the fame effe£k here as 

 the fpring-flave and treddles have in the common looms. 

 The coats are little threads faftened to each thread of the 

 warp, with a kind of fliding-knot, which forms a fort of 

 mafh or ring. They ferve to keep the warp open, for the 

 paffages of broaches wound with filks, woollens, or other 

 matters ufed in the piece of tapeftry. 



Laftly, there is a number of little fticks, of different 

 lengths, but all about an inch diameter, which the workman 

 keeps by him in bafkets, to ferve to make the threads of the 

 warp crofs each other, by palTmg them acrofs : and that the 

 threads thus croffed may retain their proper fituation, a 

 packthread is run among the threads above the ftick. 



The loom thus formed, and mounted with its warp, the 

 firft thing the workman does, is to draw, on the threads of 

 this warp, the principal hues and ftrokes of the defign to be 

 reprefented on the piece of tapeftry ; which is done by ap» 

 plying cartoons made from the painting he intends to copy, 

 to the fide that is to be the wrong fide of the piece ; and then 

 with a black-lead pencil following and tracing out the con-- 

 tours of tliem on the thread of the right fide ; fo that the 

 firokes appear equally both before and behind. As to the 

 original defign the work is to be finifhed by, it is hung up 

 behind the workman, and wound on a long ilaff, from which 

 a piece is unrolled, from time to time, as the workman 

 proceeds. 



Befides the loom, &c. here defcribed, there are three other 

 principal inftruments required for working the filk, or wool 

 of the woof within the threads of the warp. Thefe are 3 

 broach, a reed, and an iron needle. 



The broach is of hard v.-ood, feven or eight inches long, 

 and two-thirds of an inch thick, ending in a point, with a 

 little handle. It fervesas a fhuttle, the filks, woollens, gold, 

 or filver, to be ufed in the work, being wound on it. The 

 reed, or comb, is alfo of wood, eight or nine inches long, 

 and an inch thick at the back ; whence it ufuaUy grow* 

 lefs and lefs, to the extremity of the teeth, which are more 

 or lefs apart, according to the greater or lefs degree of fine- 

 nefs of the intended work. 



Laftly, the needle is in form of a common needle, only 

 bigger and longer. Its ufe is to prefs clofe the wool and 

 filks, when there is any line or colour that does not fit 

 well. 



All things being prepared for the work, and the work- 



inan 



