Cloth

2000? Five Inch Stackers “Aesop’s Fables.” “Please all, and you will please none.” Erin Turner. 100% Cotton. Penny Rose Fabrics. 15 pieces per stack. Unknown source. Among the 15 squares are two taken from a familiar MSA pattern, one brown and one rose. Unfortunately, I am having trouble finding a sample of the larger fabric from which these are taken.

2000? Fable Toile by J.H. Thorp, featuring FS and “The Fishes and the Shepherd Who Played the Flute” (La Fontaine X, Fable 11). 4’9” x 4’3”. Unknown source. Colorful fabric offering one well known scene and one far less well known. J.H. Thorp seems to be a well known manufacturer of cloth like this. Click on the cloth to see segments of it.

2005 Tortoise and Hare Border Print. Designed by Nancy Barrett for P&B Textiles. Printed in 2005 as a retired print. 18.5 x 22”. Cotton 2005. Two identical cloths. Unknown source. This piece of cloth raises third questions for me. Even though I have looked it up, I am not sure how this is a border cloth. Even more, I am not sure how the many hares and many tortoises here work together, except perhaps as a piece of whimsy taking off from Aesop's TH. A third question seems to be answered on the web. As I examined our cloths, I wanted to know how each level continued. Of course I thought that our pieces each came from a larger cloth that continued the story of each level. The web shows in each case exactly the piece that we have; apparently there is no larger cloth from which it is taken.

1950? Antique white needle lace table runner, possibly a Point de Venise style. “Fox and Goat” and perhaps FG? 56” x 16”. Unknown source. Am I right in identifying “The Fox and the Goat” at the center? In the fable, there is not, I believe, a moment where they would be facing each other this way. Generally, the fox is already in the well when the goat comes by, and, when the fox escapes with the goat’s help, he leaves the goat behind in the well. Are those two mirror-image foxes on the edges looking at and longing for grapes?

1850? FS Canvas Tapestry. Presumably made in Aubusson, France. 17” x 16.5”. Source unknown. This well-worn piece still has a recognizable scene, with the fox lapping up his thin soup while the frustrated stork looks on, perhaps already planning some payback. Would a piece like this have covered a chair or pillow? Is it, as I believe, deeply worn?

2000? Four matching cloths of La Fontaine’s Fables from le Musèe de la Fontaine. OF; “The Heron”; TH; and FC. Pure cotton. 18.5” x 28”. Le Musèe de la Fontaine. Distributed by Tradilinge. Unknown source. These four cloths offer texts in black, central figures in black, and brown background in a very pleasing combination. What are these cloths meant to do, other than to represent La Fontaine’s fable beautifully? I learned from investigating these cloths that L'Empereur is a soft, washed rind cheese made with pasteurized cow's milk.

1999 Marvic Textiles "Les Fables De La Fontaine" Toile Printed 100% Cotton Fabric. 18.3" x 23.3". Unknown source. This is a smaller section of the same pattern as just above, including only the basic pattern of eight fable scenes. The hue here has more red than the larger section's brown. Someone has hemmed this segment very nicely with gold thread. This smaller segment lacks the identifying signature of the larger piece above.

2000? TH 10” Hoop Cloth. Contrast. Small Fry #7032. 13” x 12.5”. Unknown source. The tortoise here is on roller skates and wears an airman’s googles and cap. He is eating an ice-cream cone! The hare sleeps on with a piece of straw in his mouth. There is a matching pattern in the tortoise’s back and cap and the hare’s sweater and shoes.

2000? WC Mola from Panama. Dimensions. Unknown source. This lively piece of work can be hard to decipher, at least at first. Are those frogs behind and under the wolf? I find this work breathtaking!

2000? TH Mola from Panama. 17" x 14.7". Unknown source. My what a lively, colorful piece of work! At first, I thought that this duo was musical, but on further inspection the hare is eating a carrot. And is the tortoise carrying a basket? In any case, they do not seem to be racing!

1990? Three Margot de Paris Needlepoint Patterns: TH(#271); FC (#272); and LM (#274). Plus two extra copies of FC. 9.75” x 23.5”. Unknown source. Lively presentations of each fable. They follow the same pattern in arranging the characters horizontally. One can see one example of TH completed in our collection under “Cross Stitch” and the other two under "Canvas Tapestries."

1900? Single tapestry of fables of La Fontaine. 8” x 8.5’. Total width 10”. Unknown source. As in the matching pair of tapestries, this long, slender, exquisite tapestry contains six fable scenes. In order, they are WL; “The Fox and the Cat”; “The Hare and the Frogs”; TH; DS; and “Two Goats.” These are the same six subjects – and the same six images – as on Tapestry B above, but in different order. And the canvas backing of the tapestry remains at the sides of this tapestry. It is again noteworthy that none of these subjects or images occur on the broader single tapestry above.