Tapissier

Plate from Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie (1751-1772), showing tapissiers at work. Plate from Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie (1751-1772), showing tapissiers at work.

Tapissier is a French term that is sometimes incorrectly associated with an embroiderer or stitcher. Originally the term tapissier was used to describe someone who wove tapestries. By the sixteenth century the term also included anyone who mended tapestries.

By the late sixteenth century, tapissier had the additional meaning of anyone who repaired the upholstery on chairs, curtains, hangings, as well as those who set up the stiff, elaborate hangings on formal beds, including state beds.

Source: SWAIN, Margaret (1986). Needlework of Mary Queen of Scots, Marlborough: Crowood Press (Ebook page 37).

Digital source of illustration (retrieved 1st July 2016).

GVE

Last modified on Sunday, 30 April 2017 18:55
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