Tartan of the month - October: What do yo see?

[figheadair]

I don't have much left, but I will ask if we can see the two 'tears' just off the pivot point at the top and bottom of the image in post #1. Also, what do we know about why 13" wide cloths were woven? What were they used for?

The fact that the cloth may have some damage is not surprising given its age. Given that it is in a museum and they don't know much about it there is little benefit in speculating as to the cause because it's just as likely to be wrong.

Why 13", now there's a question. I've only once come across a similar width piece and that was much older than this so I don't think they are related so to speak. Clear, being off-set suggests that the pattern and therefore presumably the cloth was intended/had the potential to be joined and so could have been 26". I have to admit I'm stumped by the width given the fact that 19-28" cloth was the norm for the period that this is likely to date from. The fact that cloth could be joined does not mean that it always would have been, as in this case, and we have to realise that any decorated cloth would have been regarded as special by many people because of the additional cost over plain cloth and the fact that this appears to have been a purely decorative piece as opposed to something functional.

Forget going down the who owned it and why line and consider the date and who wove it. Bigger than a big clue

[CopperNGold]

Once again, I don't know what I'm talking about but here goes:

Wilson of Bannockburn was the able to weave tartan during the prohibition, which fits the dates already mentioned here. He wove district tartans and exported around the world. Could this possibly be a clan chief who got away with wearing tartan during probitition or a visitor, possibly British, who wore tartan during that time?
Is it Wilson's Superfine? What is the weight of the tartan. Decorative? Feminine?

Ok, boys, rip this stream of thought to pieces. LOL!

Cheers, Jocelyn

[xman]

[QUOTE=CopperNGold;1027633]... Wilson of Bannockburn was the able to weave tartan during the prohibition, which fits the dates already mentioned here
Oooo now that's an interesting idea.

... Could this possibly be a clan chief who got away with wearing tartan during probitition or a visitor, possibly British, who wore tartan during that time?

Unlikely as this piece is too small for any garment outside a sash or something.

If there are few extent examples of 13" width cloth then either it was rarely woven in this width or whatever was woven to this width was always used until ragged. The latter seem very unlikely.

[CopperNGold]

Xman, you're right, given the size, that wouldn't work. Wilson, a lowlander, sent his men to the Highlands during proscription, to see what the Highlanders needed in tartan. Could this have been smuggled in, then hidden in the home of a Highlander? We've narrowed it down to a woman's or decorative item, doubled to become 26 inches. Was it visible in the home? Was it used as a lining of a shawl, so it would not be seen?

This is fun!

[CopperNGold]

* prohibition. Sorry!

Jocelyn

[figheadair]

[QUOTE=xman;1027722]

... Wilson of Bannockburn was the able to weave tartan during the prohibition, which fits the dates already mentioned here
Oooo now that's an interesting idea.

Unlikely as this piece is too small for any garment outside a sash or something.

If there are few extent examples of 13" width cloth then either it was rarely woven in this width or whatever was woven to this width was always used until ragged. The latter seem very unlikely.

We've established that this was probably intended as a shawl or screen. I agree that it's most likely that this was an unusual width given that it's the only surviving piece of the period.

Given the age, colours and setting it's a reasonable deduction and most likely that this is Wilsons' cloth which is what I was trying to draw out.

Xman, you're right, given the size, that wouldn't work. Wilson, a lowlander, sent his men to the Highlands during proscription, to see what the Highlanders needed in tartan. Could this have been smuggled in, then hidden in the home of a Highlander? We've narrowed it down to a woman's or decorative item, doubled to become 26 inches. Was it visible in the home? Was it used as a lining of a shawl, so it would not be seen?

This is fun!

Wow - steady there! 2 + 2 don't make 5! You've taken an idea and run with it without the evidence to support it.

Yes Wm Wilson was a Lowlander and yes it's said that his agent scoured the Highlands for old patterns to use as a basis for new designs but, and this is a big but, the claim, which I believe is from Telfer Dunbar, doesn't refer to a date and I think that it's unlikely that the practice occurred much before the end of Proscription, so post 1780 I'd guess.

Now then, where did the smuggled in the Highlands come from ? All I stated was that the piece was in the Perth Museum. You also confuse the ban on Highland Dress with a ban on tartan. Although it's often stated that Proscription banned tartan is didn't, only the wearing of tartan garments by men not in the Army.

[CopperNGold]

Yep, I jumped the gun, but I am learning a lot from my mistakes, and still having a great time!

I'm going to go back and look at other Tartan of the Month threads.

Cheers, Jocelyn

[figheadair]

So then, to conclude:

A length of 13" wide hard tartan cloth with an off-set pattern made to be joined but no evidence that this piece ever was. The piece has been initialled which suggests that this was a present or some form of commemorative piece. Almost certainly for female use, perhaps a christening piece, marriage troth or the like. We will probably never know.

Most likely Wilsons' cloth dating to c1780-1800, the width is unusually narrow and so was either a special order (unlikely) or was an early standard width that was superseded, perhaps by their 19" Old Superfine cloth.

The sett elements of their (New) Perth sett and the older Royal Stewart but whether it had a name or merely a number is impossible to know without further evidence coming to light.